Gary Payton II has firmly established himself as a key part of the rotation for the Golden State Warriors this season. At this point, it's hard to imagine that the Dubs nearly cut him from the team during the offseason.

As a matter of fact, the Warriors did send Payton packing after they waived him at the end of the 2020-21 season. That was a tough time for the 6-foot-3 swingman and he recently admitted that he was set on taking some desperate measures just to be able to remain with the team:

“They were telling me my chance was kinda low to making the team, so I was just trying to — they had a video coordinating job open, and I was trying to get in that job, trying to ask for an interview for that job, just to stay around this team and be around the team and see if I can help,” Payton said on Tuesday, via Malika Andrews of ESPN. “And you never know, a 10-day might pop up in between that and in between that video coordinating room.”

Payton said that at that point in time, it felt “very real” to him that he was going to end up with an office job for the Warriors. All he wanted was to stay around the team and wait for his opportunity.

Thanks to his perseverance, it did not take long before the Warriors decided to get him back on the roster:

“So I just stayed with it, next thing that happened they got a call saying, ‘We figured it out.' I'm staying. No more video coordinating job,” Payton said.

GP2's current deal is set to expire at the end of this season. Based on what we've seen from him this year, however, it's feeling very likely that the 29-year-old has earned himself a more long-term deal with the Warriors.