A look at Gary Payton’s only season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
In the wake of the release of the 10-part documentary “The Last Dance”, it is natural to think about all those stars whose career was affected by Michael Jordan, who prevented them from winning an NBA championship. Especially those who had to face him in the late 90s.
In their second three-peat, the Chicago Bulls defeated two teams in the NBA Finals. Gary Payton’s Seattle SuperSonics and John Stockton and Karl Malone‘s Utah Jazz.
Precisely Payton and Malone, a few years later teamed-up on the Los Angeles Lakers to try to remedy the lack of a ring and fix their legacies with the ultimate achievement.
I previously talked about Malone’s tenure as a Laker, so this time I will focus on the former player known as The Glove.
As recently revealed by Payton in Harrison Barnes’s podcast “All The Smoke”, the two All-Stars had already planned to play together at a certain point in their careers. In the summer of 2003, they were convinced to join the Los Angeles Lakers thanks to their friendship with Shaquille O’Neal and the chance to form an unbelievable team of four Hall of Famers with Shaq and Kobe Bryant.
Payton would obviously take over the role of starting point guard in a situation that, however, would prove harder than expected. Adapting to the triangle offense was much of a struggle for a player who had spent his whole carrier playing pick and rolls, founding now himself in an offense based on constant motion without the ball.
But despite what is generally believed, due to his known attitude and temper, he was not reluctant to play the triple-post offense. As Phil Jackson reported in his book “The Last Season”, the two constantly talked about the scheme and how to figure out ways to fit him best. He was not much of a distraction for the team. Instead, he was really committed to doing whatever it took to win this championship that had always eluded him.
Coming from nine consecutive All-Star selections, at 35 years old and playing a style that did not match his best qualities, he had a fairly good season, averaging 14.6 points, 5.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds. He also kept going his role as a mentor for Kobe and was certainly a great presence for the team’s locker room and chemistry.
Unfortunately, his numbers dropped in the playoffs to 7.8 points and 5.3 assists. Furthermore, Payton and Malone were primarily brought in to provide a defensive competence the Lakers lacked the previous year, but “The Glove” had clearly lost a step on that end of the floor.
He struggled mightily in the Finals defending Detroit Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups, who ended up winning the Finals MVP.
It was a real disappointment that such a hyped and historic team could not manage to win the championship, but the factors that played into it are well-known.
The former Sonic was certainly a great addition for the Los Angeles Lakers, but in the end he was not the right piece. He struggled on offense in the triangle. He struggled on defense. Of course, he performed well and gave a nice contribution in the regular season by sheer talent, but overall maybe he was not the best fit.
Phil Jackson himself, in his book, wondered if Jannero Pargo would have been more effective defending on Billups, had he not been waived.
Saying so, I do not want to discredit Payton’s contribution and effort. He was anyway a great professional and, knowing his character and temperament, he conducted himself splendidly in the adversity, focusing on what was asked from him.
Payton went on and finally won his championship with the Miami Heat two years later. But his ring would have had much more value for his Hall of Fame career had he won it in Los Angeles as a protagonist of a historic team, rather than just a 37-year-old complementary piece for the Heat.