The NBA is not always a long calm river when you are a player chaining small contracts. Once out of the Great League, the hardest part is to find a place there and Gary Payton II is one of those who know it well, he who had to fight to make his mark in the workforce of the Warriors. When he learned that his spot was compromised at the start of the season? He actually thought regarding becoming… a video analyst for Steve Kerr.
This is a very unique story. Direction the training camp of the Warriors, last September. In competition with other profiles, Gary Payton II is not sure that Steve Kerr will choose him from his list of fifteen men who will begin the adventure with Golden State. Worse, he is told that things are off to a bad start with regard to his training. As you can imagine, worry becomes the mistress of the thoughts of GP second of the name. At 29, leaving the NBA is almost without return, unless you have a deep history in the league. In the case of Gary, nothing very crunchy to put in their mouths… apart from frequent round trips to the G League which have yielded nothing in franchises of the Great League. It smells scorched and faced with the obligation to return to have fun in the antechamber of the NBA, Payton II then chooses to try everything for everything. Challenged by an offer to recruit a video analyst for Steve Kerr, he is regarding to apply. His idea ? Stay close to a team, and play everything if an opportunity to hit the floor once more arises. At the microphone of NBC Sports Bay Areahe looks back on this passage of his career… to say the least special.
« Ils [le staff] told me that my chances of being part of the band were pretty low. They had a job as a video analyst available. I tried to get the job, to ask for an interview for this job just to stay close to the franchise and see how I might help… You never know, a ten-day contract might have come next.
Eventually they got a call to say I was staying, and I never applied to become an analyst. »
– Gary Payton II
The anecdote is quite crazy anyway and, casually, it helps to understand all the difficulty of staying in the NBA for a long time. We also feel all the determination of Gary Payton II not to let go. A bit of the character of the daron that stands out? No doubt, but let’s not take anything away from the work provided by GPII and it alone. Well done to Steve Kerr, his choice has more than paid off. Author of a more than honest season, Gary has established himself as a very big defender and the number 1 option for the Warriors when it is necessary to send a guy to coal on the hottest outsides of the league. His Playoffs came close to being cut short dramatically following the nasty blow he received from Dillon Brooks in the Conference semi-finals. but returned for Game 2 of the Finals he really annoyed the Jay Brothers and allowed his team to take a decisive advantage in the third quarter via his relentless defense. One thing is therefore certain: with this kind of reputation, more certain that the guy needs to apply once more for the position of video analyst.
Determination, will: two adjectives that can now be attached to the name of Gary Payton II. Letting go of your dream? Never in life has he sacrificed too much to get here. Fate smiles on the bold, and GPII is now one of the best outside defenders in the league… what a great story.
