For many in the NBA world, Gary Payton II was a relatively unknown commodity last year. He was just a guy who had bounced around in the league a bit and was a rotation piece in the Golden State machine. He had, in fact, been waived by the Warriors before last season, but they signed him back, and that proved to be an inspired decision.
Payton had his best season as a pro in 2021-22 and surprised a lot of people by how effective he was on the court. He excelled, in particular, on the defensive end and proved to be a menace to opposing guards all season long. Someone who wasn't all that surprised by it was Zach Lowe, who had hailed Payton as arguably the best defensive guard in the NBA back in September of last year, as pointed out by u/MGubser on Reddit.
via The Lowe Post (starts at 31:32 mark):
“If The Mitten (Gary Payton II) got 1,000 minutes in the NBA, he would make an all-defense team. He may be the best defensive guard in professional basketball, that’s how good that dude is defensively. He just does nothing on offense and never plays."
That was very high praise right there for his defense, and while Payton probably isn't the best defensive guard, he does deserve to be a part of the conversation. He also surpassed Lowe's expectations of him on offense by being serviceable on that end at the very least, which helped him earn a 3-year, $28 million deal from the Trail Blazers.
The decision to let Payton leave wasn't well-received within the Warriors organization, as it stung several people , and their loss is Portland's gain, with the Blazers getting him on what could turn out to be a bargain deal if he keeps improving on the offensive end.
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