All-time NBA great and current Big3 head coach Gary Payton is known around the basketball world as a ferocious competitor with a superb defensive mindset.
During his heyday, he had the unique ability to lock-down premiere guards and small forwards in the league and made their life a living hell. Throughout his 18-year, The Glove averaged 16.3 points per game, to go along with 6.7 assists and 1.8 steals. He also had a defensive win share percentage of 48.9%. This resulted in numerous All-Defensive team selections and even a Defensive Player of the Year win in 1996.
But what not all fans know about Payton was how brutal he could be when sizing up an opponent. The ever-vocal floor general has had a long history of talking trash and getting in their faces, which only propelled his success to greater heights.
Currently, his defense may have diminished a little, but it’s good to know that he can still get into his foe’s heads without much challenge.
In an article published by Bill Difilippo of UPROXX, the Hall of Famer was recently voted as Trash Talker of the Year despite being on the sidelines! This is uncommon because these accolades are usually given to players; but I guess Payton’s skills were just too good to disregard.
Aside from this, he was also runner-up for the Coach of the Year trophy, which means his method of lighting a fire under them with harsh words is actually working!
Being a great point guard with the great defensive tendencies, the ability to see the floor, and leadership, there was little doubt he’d make an almost seamless transition into coaching. But this ability to motivate them when it counts is something incredibly valuable.
It also doesn’t hurt that as fans, it's always fun to watch when trash-talking is happening.
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