Last November, the NBA announced its the Top 75 Anniversary team, which includes Miami Heat greats Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade, Gary Payton, Ray Allen, and LeBron James.
Gary Payton was recently a guest on NBA Twitter Spaces last week as a part of the “My NBA 75’ along with ESPN’s Kevin Pelton, NBA TV’s Chris Miles, former Sonics’ announcer Kevin Calabro, and basketball host Kayce K.
The conversation started off with Miles asking Payton where he was when he found out that made the list.
“Chris, honestly I was sleep," Payton said. "I was sleep then my agent called me to wake me up and said congratulations. Then my phone started going off crazy everybody was congratulating me and sending me the pictures of it. But it was a great honor, I was not looking forward to it as you see the first two days go by and were doing it 25, 25, and 25. For me to come to that last day and I was with Shaq, Kobe (Bryant), and all of them guys, it was a great honor and really happy that I made it.”
Gary Payton in his 15th season helped the Heat win their first NBA championship in 2006. That season, he averaged 7.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 3.2 assists off the bench as the backup point guard. At this point of his career, he was just looking to add a ring to his resume, but he was also able to provide mentorship to Udonis Haslem and Wade.
During that season, Payton found himself having a conversation with O'Neal that made him realize that they had to play through Wade.
“I started seeing Shaq be mad about we’re not getting him the ball,” Payton said on the Jan. 5 episode of The Draymond Green Show. “I just told Shaq. I said, ‘Shaq, listen here. Look what young fella (Wade) did last year. You see how he took over stuff. … You guys lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. That’s why Pat came and put all of us together. He wanted a championship. We’re here now. We gotta stop this, man.’ I said, ‘Man, we’re gonna make him be the first tier. Period. You gotta do this for me.’”
Which was something that O'Neal would eventually agree on with Payton.
“When he agreed to it and [bought] in, man D-Wade. I ain’t ever seen nobody perform like this ever,” Payton said. “ … This young kid was giving them the blues.”
The Miami Heat eventually beat the Dallas Mavericks in six games in the Finals.
Landon Buford is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He can be reached at landon.buford@att.net
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