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| Gary Payton Career Photos |
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| Gary Payton Player Profile |
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Full Name: Gary Dwayne Payton
Born: July 23, 1968, Oakland, California
Nickname: The Glove
Height: 6'4"
Pro Career:
Seattle SuperSonics (1990-2003)
Milwaukee Bucks (2003)
Los Angeles Lakers (2003-2004) |
Weight: 180 lbs
College: Oregon State University
Position: Point guard
Draft: 2nd overall, 1990 by the Seattle SuperSonics
Boston Celtics (2004-2005)
Miami Heat (2005-2007) |
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| Gary Payton Career Biography |
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Gary Payton played his high school basketball at Skyline High School in Oakland, California, along with former NBA player and Sonics teammate Greg Foster before attending Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Throughout his four-year career at OSU, he became one of the most decorated basketball players in OSU history. During his senior year, Payton was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine as the nation's best player in 1990. He was a consensus All-American in 1990; three-time All-Pac-10 selection, and named the Pac-10 conference's 1987 Freshman of the Year. He was the MVP of the Far West Classic tournament three times and was the Pac-10 Player of the Week nine times. He also was named to the Pac-10's All-Decade Team. At the time of his graduation, he held the school record for points, field goals, three-point field goals, assists, and steals. During his career at OSU, the Beavers made three NCAA Tournament appearances and one NIT appearance. He was elected into OSU's Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.
At the conclusion of his college career, Payton was the second overall pick in the NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. During his NBA career, Payton was named to the All-NBA First-Team in 1998 and 2000; the All-NBA Second Team in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2002; and the All-NBA Third Team in 2001. He was also selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team nine consecutive seasons (1994-2002), and was named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year in 1996. Payton was selected to the NBA All-Star Team nine times and was voted as a starter in 1997 and 1998. He was a member of the gold medal-winning 1996 and 2000 U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Teams.
Gary Payton is nicknamed "The Glove" in recognition of his tenacious defense. As the story goes, Payton's cousin called him during the 1993 Western Conference Finals series against the Phoenix Suns and told him, "you're holding Kevin Johnson like a baseball in a glove," and the nickname "The Glove" was born. Payton is well-known for his trash-talking, and is known as one of the greatest trash-talkers in NBA history, but more importantly, he is known as one of the greatest defensive guards in NBA history. He is the only guard to have won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award since Michael Jordan won it in 1988, and his 9 selections to the NBA All-Defensive First Team are tied for the highest total of all time along with Michael Jordan and he currently ranks 3rd all-time in career steals.
In 16 seasons, Payton has missed only 11 games, and at one point held the longest active streak for consecutive games played, with over 300. Of the games he did miss, most were due to suspensions. Payton was always willing of playing through injury, oftentimes starting games wearing bandages across his abdomen or lower back. Karl Malone was the only player to log more minutes of playing time than Payton in the 1990s, and since the 1990-1991 season when Payton joined the league, no player has logged more total minutes as of the end of the 2005-2006 season. Sports Illustrated labeled Payton's 2003-2004 season as the best season ever by a point guard aged 35 or higher.
Payton made three NBA Finals appearance in his 16 year career. His first Finals appearance was as a member of the Sonics was in 1996 against Michael Jordan's 72 win Chicago Bulls. The Sonics lost to the Bulls in 6 games. Payton's second appearance was as a member of the 2004 Lakers, which included Shaq, Kobe and Karl Malone. The Lakers lost to the Pistons in 5 games. In his third attempt, Payton finally won his first NBA Championship in his sixteenth season in the NBA as a member of the Miami Heat, when, on June 20, 2006, the Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks in game 6 of the NBA Finals. It was also the Heats first NBA Championship. |
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| Gary Payton Career Stats |
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SEASON |
TEAM |
GP |
GS |
MPG |
SPG |
RPG |
APG |
PPG |
'90-91 |
Seattle |
82 |
82 |
27.4 |
2.01 |
3.0 |
6.4 |
7.2 |
'91-92 |
Seattle |
81 |
79 |
31.5 |
1.81 |
3.6 |
6.2 |
9.4 |
'92-93 |
Seattle |
82 |
78 |
31.1 |
2.16 |
3.4 |
4.9 |
13.5 |
'93-94 |
Seattle |
82 |
82 |
35.1 |
2.29 |
3.3 |
6.0 |
16.5 |
'94-95 |
Seattle |
82 |
82 |
36.8 |
2.49 |
3.4 |
7.1 |
20.6 |
'95-96 |
Seattle |
81 |
81 |
39.0 |
2.85 |
4.2 |
7.5 |
19.3 |
'96-97 |
Seattle |
82 |
82 |
39.2 |
2.40 |
4.6 |
7.1 |
21.8 |
'97-98 |
Seattle |
82 |
82 |
38.4 |
2.26 |
4.6 |
8.3 |
19.2 |
'98-99 |
Seattle |
50 |
50 |
40.2 |
2.18 |
4.9 |
8.7 |
21.7 |
'99-00 |
Seattle |
82 |
82 |
41.8 |
1.87 |
6.5 |
8.9 |
24.2 |
'00-01 |
Seattle |
79 |
79 |
41.1 |
1.61 |
4.6 |
8.1 |
23.1 |
'01-02 |
Seattle |
82 |
82 |
40.3 |
1.60 |
4.8 |
9.0 |
22.1 |
'02-03 |
Seattle/Milwaukee |
80 |
80 |
40.1 |
1.79 |
4.2 |
8.3 |
20.4 |
'03-04 |
Los Angeles |
82 |
82 |
34.5 |
1.17 |
4.2 |
5.5 |
14.6 |
'04-05 |
Boston |
77 |
77 |
33.0 |
1.14 |
3.1 |
6.1 |
11.3 |
'05-06 |
Miami |
81 |
25 |
28.5 |
0.88 |
2.9 |
3.2 |
7.7 |
'06-07 |
Miami |
68 |
28 |
22.1 |
.06 |
1.9 |
3.0 |
5.3 |
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