“He Can’t Be Me”: Gary Payton Explains How He Had to Transition From a “Basketball Player to a Dad” to Save Relationship With Son

Gary Payton cemented his legacy as one of the most unique and aggressive personalities the NBA ever bore witness to. Given his affinity for saying what’s n his mind, it wasn’t all too much of a surprise to hear ‘the Glove’ was a bit hard on his son when it came to his training.

Payton appeared on a recent edition of The Knuckleheads podcast with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles where he spoke about fatherhood. He admitted that he was very critical of GP2, especially when he decided to pursue basketball as a career like he did. “I criticized him so much that me and his relationship got bad by that,” Payton confessed.

Fortunately, Payton found a better route. He told the hosts that he instead made a transition from “being a basketball player to a dad.” This pivot encouraged Payton to be more supportive, which led to GP2 feeling more encouraged. The move helped the father-and-son grow closer than ever, both on and off the court.

“That’s becoming now a friendship and a fatherhood,” Payton added. “And I had to understand, ‘he can’t be me.’ There’s only one Gary Payton, I just named him after me. That’s it. So I tell him, ‘Look I’m here, you can be right next to me and we can be together.”

Richardson and Payton then bonded over their shared experiences as dads. Both agreed that they were hard on their kids, but that hardship led to them being extremely proud. “We got to transition and be the daddy. We can’t be us because our era is gone,” stated Payton.

The 9x All-Star concluded by expressing how different his generation was from the current. Truer words have never been spoken, especially regarding the NBA. The game has morphed into an entirely new game from Payton’s era. Physicality has been replaced with the three-ball. Man-to-man has been replaced by the zone. The two eras are incomparable because of how much they differ.

Payton cares more about the type of man GP2 became than his basketball skills

This roundtable chat wouldn’t be the first time Gary Payton spoke about the unnecessary pressures he put on his son. He stated something similar during a public fundraiser that was raising awareness for dyslexia in 2024.

“The simple fact is that I was hard on him. Nowadays, I sit back. And I’m very proud of my son because I can just sit back and just say nothing. Just do nothing. And that’s great.”

That wasn’t all. Payton later revealed what made GP2 did that made him more proud than anything else.

“But the real thing about my son is, I don’t care about basketball,” Payton stated. “I really don’t. The best thing about him is every time somebody walks up to me, they tell me how great of a human being my son is. I don’t care about basketball. I really don’t because everything they say about your son is, ‘He’s great. He’s a great human.’ “

Watching Payton soften up a little bit is endearing. The viciousness that he displayed on the court has transitioned to sincerity off the court. Hopefully he keeps this new attitude after hearing the news of GP2’s latest injury. 

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

Read More