Top 70 Gary Payton Quotes

I’ve loved my days at Oregon State.

I got suspended from school once, and my dad came to the school and whooped me in front of everyone. I didn’t want that to happen again, didn’t want to be embarrassed like that. The guys that I ran with, they respected that and respected my dad too.

I know who can play and who can’t play and I’m very straight-forward… If you can play, you can play; if you can’t, you can’t.

You can’t regret anything – it’s over with.

To let somebody get 30 points on you, and you feel good because you got 35 on them, that’s not good for me, you know what I’m saying? If I get 35, I want him to get 12 or 14 because that means I’ve done something. I’ve done my job. I went out there and played hard and did what I had to do.

I would never have wanted to play with Magic Johnson, I would never have wanted to play with Michael Jordan, I would never have wanted to play with Karl Malone or John Stockton in my prime. We wanted to play against the Shaqs, the Kobes.

Because of how I am on the court, people think I’m wild and crazy. But really, I’m a kick-back guy, so Seattle suits me fine.

To Seattle, Washington, the SuperSonics organization and its fans, the best owners ever in the Ackerley family, I love you. But the best part is that you loved me back.

It’s always going to have an effect when your father comes up and scolds you in front of a lot of people.

You don’t just come in and say, ‘Bam, I’m mature; I’m the leader.’ It took time for me to grow into this and learn how to talk to certain players and how to handle certain situations.

Coaching is something I really would do. A lot of people don’t think I’m serious about it. I like working with the kids. When you work with the guys one-on-one and get them to understand it’s a little bit better. That’s the way I was taught by Tim Grgurich. That’s how he taught us.

There’s a lot of things that I appreciate that people can’t appreciate.

Xavier McDaniel made me respect him. I thought I could do anything I wanted to. He grabbed me one time and almost choked me out. He said, ‘You’re going to do this. You’re going to go get coffee. You’re going to go get doughnuts.’ It’s a game of respect.

I’m always going to admire my father more than anybody in life.

The NBA tries to be about flash. But real fans recognize the guy who makes things happen.

I don’t need to be in New York. If you’ve had a bad game, they’re booing you and all that mess.

I’ve always liked Deron Williams because has the same mentality as me.

Every rookie that thought they was good, I went at them to make sure they knew I was the best point guard in the league, and they had to go through me. That’s just the way I was.

You don’t have to like me, but I’m going to tell you the truth. If you don’t like what I’m saying, then go out and prove it.

I was really scared when I went to Oregon State. I wasn’t sure I could play at the college level.

When you talk back to me and say something to me it made my game go to another level.

I’m not a jealous guy.

Money and all that stuff doesn’t equal a ring, because you’ll always be in the books as winning a championship and being on one of the best teams ever to play the game.

The thing that I regret is not having better relationships with a lot of people. Being the hard-nosed guy that I was, I think I could’ve come off a little bit better in my relationships with a lot of people, and I didn’t.

I like Draymond Green’s intensity… but every time I didn’t get a call I didn’t cry all the time.

I’m not into the European-style clothes.

I’m humble.

I was really excited about going to Miami because of coach Riley. And getting with him has been a change for me and really good for me.

You make sacrifices. You sacrifice yourself. Do you want to possibly win a championship? Or do you want to be the same person you were when you were 20 and get those same numbers?

I’ve got a lot of stats. I did a lot of stuff.

Don’t hate, just play better, and then get that money.

I’m a big fan of Marcus Smart.

I’ve done everything – All-Stars, Olympics. The only thing I haven’t done is win MVP of the league. There’s nothing else I haven’t accomplished.

I’ve already gotten the big paychecks. I’ll be fine.

No one superstar can win a championship by himself. You’ve got to have help.

Part of being a leader means knowing who you can go after and who you should pat on the butt.

This is what kids want to see. You see these Playstations, they scoring 50 and 60 with one player, that’s what they want to see on TV and I don’t go with that.

I can’t think ok, I got 35 points, he got 35, I did something good.

Prove to them people that you should have gotten picked earlier, and then you make your money. The privilege is just getting drafted, and once you get picked, prove to them that you were supposed to be drafted.

I’ve done did a lot of things in the NBA, made a lot of stuff, so I’m happy with what I’ve done.

I want to be the black Dick Vitale.

I will not go to Oklahoma and retire my jersey there.

When I was talking a lot of trash, a lot of the guys knew that when I started getting serious was when I started getting a little bit quieter. If I started locking up somebody, then I’d start talking even more and I’d talk more aggressive. But once I stopped, they knew I was really serious.

The point guards that I like are the ones that are playing like point guards.

Tim Hardaway was a guy who had his crossover and then he could shoot a jump shot and he could get to the bucket.

Coming from Oakland, Calif., I never thought I’d be a Hall of Famer. I wasn’t thinking about basketball like that.

I don’t give a damn about MVP.

I didn’t grow up admiring anybody but George Gervin, and I didn’t get a chance to play against him. That would’ve been one of my lifetime accomplishments. I probably would’ve went crazy if I played against him, because he’s like a father to me now.

Wilt Chamberlain, by far, is my best basketball player. Best athlete ever.

I am going to go on with my life, and if they call me and say ‘Yo, you are going to be in the Hall of Fame or you are going to be in this,’ then I am going to say, ‘So be it.’ If I make it, I will go to the ceremony, and I’ll have fun.

It’s just a great honor to even be associated with the Hall of Fame and get in. If I eventually do make it, it will be a great honor, and I don’t care if it’s the first or second time because it’s an honor for anyone to make the Hall of Fame.

I want to finish my career in Seattle but it’s rocky.

I haven’t gotten in any trouble off the floor.

Kobe Bryant, to me, is still the best basketball player in my mind. He played with me and he was in my era. I still love him to death. He’s a little brother to me.

I own 60 retro jerseys. I’ve got everybody – the late Derrick Thomas, a lot of people.

You talk about rowdy – in Oakland the players were on you. The refs were on you. The stands were on you. You had to talk back or you were a sissy; you’d get run out of the league. Afterward? Yeah, it was kind of a, uh, struggle to get out of the gym. Cops had to be everywhere. Which was lucky.

When I made it to the pros I wanted to be a guy who could stay in the league, be OK, do whatever I had to do to make some money and do what I do. As the years started coming, I started getting better.

My dad was known as a mean guy. He never smiled, and he had ‘Mr. Mean’ put on his license plate. But he was one of the neighborhood dads who looked out for everyone. He would take kids in and help them out.

I’m not going to go to a team that’s losing. I think that would be disrespectful to me to trade me to somebody like that.

I like comfortable clothes, so I get most of my pants and shirts made.

Gary Payton is evolving, but GP is in the Hall of Fame.

When I went in to Seattle, I had eight veterans who were in the league over six or seven years. That was a plus for me, to teach me how to respect somebody.

I hope they’ll say I was one of the hardest-working basketball players on both ends of the floor.

As far as talking on the court was concerned, the whole family was behind me on that.

I’m not going to sit here and dwell on whether or not I am going to the Hall of Fame.

Patrick Beverley is one of my favorites. What he does is he brings a lot of energy.

When you play defense what happens is everybody pays attention and they start talking about how you’re the stopper, you can stop this guy. All of a sudden your game gets better on the offensive end and you become that versatile guard that everybody wants.

You’ve got to be on all-league teams before you can say that you are going to be a great basketball player.

My way is to talk to my opponent so he makes it a personal thing. He starts playing me one-on-one, and forgets about his team. Meanwhile, I’m still playing team ball and eating him up. Some guys tried talking back, but you can’t get a talker when a talker’s talking to you.

I was guarding the best player and getting 25 and having eight assists, and three-four steals.