Gary Payton was a legendary NBA player in his prime, known across the league as “The Glove” in reference to his elite defense on the perimeter.
Playing 17 years in the NBA, most of which was with the Seattle SuperSonics, Payton was the first and only point guard to win NBA Defensive Player of the Year, which he did in 1996, amongst nine total finishes on the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team.
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A member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Payton, whose son Gary Payton II currently plays for the Golden State Warriors, had some interesting words about the current Mavericks GM Nico Harrison, a controversial figure in Dallas to say the least.
Instead of doubting Harrison after his season of monumental mistakes, Payton believes fans should, for some reason, believe in Harrison going forward. He said as much during his appearance on the Club 520 Podcast recently.
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“I feel for my boy Jason Kidd as a head coach, I feel for my boy Nico, my rep at Nike, like a little brother to me. I feel for him because of what he took,” said Payton of Harrison.
“He’s the president/general manager, he can’t make the calls on his own. All you fans messing with him, get up out of here like that. It wasn’t his call, it wasn’t his decision. He made a decision on what he was told to do or what had to be done. I’m happy for him. What’s going to happen? Get all the guys to get healthy. If their whole team gets healthy, Dallas is gonna be a beast.”
Though Payton may feel this way due to a personal connection with Harrison, it is safe to say that the Dallas fanbase disagrees, especially considering the rumors flying around that he may trade the top overall pick, which will presumably be Duke’s Cooper Flagg, for another aging veteran.
It will take a long time for Harrison to overcome the Luka Doncic-Lakers trade if he ever does. A good start would be to draft Flagg and avoid another myopic blockbuster trade.
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