Gary Payton grew up in a household determined to win. Payton’s father trained Gary from a young age. It was in part done to keep his son away from violence and drug-related crime. But the other reason was to teach him to win, to teach him to succeed.
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Of all the things The Glove learned from his father, the most prominent bit that stayed was his hounding defense. Payton was a menace. He was such a pesky guard who would stick to his man like a leech on a fresh wound. But what made him an even worse player to play against was that legendary big mouth.
The NBA has definitely seen some of the greatest trash-talkers, but no one did it quite like Gary Payton. He used that horrible talking habit to get under Scottie Pippen’s skin.
Gary Payton insulted Scottie Pippen in a game
In his book Three-Ring Circus, Jeff Pearlman wrote of Payton’s degenerate and persistent trash-talking in detail. The famous author discussed how Gary was perhaps the most brutal smack-talker in the league.
For Payton, nothing was off the limits. He attacked everyone by going after exactly what would hurt them. Even going after players’ wives and family members was fair in the 6ft 4 guard’s eyes. In his meeting with Scottie Pippen, Payton went after the Bulls’ legend’s legacy.
Jeff Pearlman: “If you were married, Payton banged your ugly-a** wife. If you were dating, he banged your ugly-a** girlfriend. Your car was trash. Your house was on fire. Your butt smelled of rotting lizard. You sucked d**k. Your teammates sucked d**k. Your children sucked d**k. When a journeyman forward named Jamie Feick once barked nonsense at Payton, he replied by noting, “Man, you won’t even be in the league next year.” Moments later, to Payton’s delicious delight, an opponent asked him to hold his tongue: he had hurt Feick’s feelings. When Timberwolves coach Sidney Lowe (5-foot-11) stood to say something, the 6-foot-4 Payton shouted, “Sit down, you Smurf!” When Chicago’s Scottie Pippen was playing without Michael Jordan, Payton went to town. “Where’s Mike at?” he bellowed. “I ain’t scared of you now, Scottie. You ain’t top 50 of all time. You want me to show you my list? I had you at 51, Scottie. I had you at 51!”
Payton practiced trash-talking
To say The Glove was dedicated to trash-talk would be a major understatement. Payton was obsessed with it to the point he practiced it regularly.
In his book, Pearlman claimed that while practicing shots, Payton would also try a variety of verbal slander. Here was a man who gave much of his career to hone his craft. Obviously, he knew what he was doing but do you think Gary Payton overdid the trash-talking at times?
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