Gary Payton is one of the greatest two-way guards the league has ever seen. The Sonics player sat down with DJ Vlad for an interview last year. During the interview, Vlad asked Payton who was harder to guard, John Stockton or Michael Jordan. Gary chose Stockon over Michael for a few reasons. The video clipping of the same interview blew up and was recently shared by Shaquille O’Neal on his Instagram story.
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Though the Bulls were the centerpiece of 90’s NBA basketball, Utah Jazz were always just a step behind. John Stockton, who played alongside Karl Malone, formed a formidable pick-and-roll offense. However, Utah would soon find out that Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were two players who were outside their pay grade.
Gary Payton explains his Stockton pick on VladTV
Gary Payton was the premier defensive guard in the 90’s. Gary guarded the likes of Jordan, Stockton, Isiah Thomas, and many other Hall of Fame players. During an interview with DJ Vlad, Gary explained why he chose Stockton over Michael as a tougher player to defend. When the interviewer asked, “You actually said that John Stockton was harder to guard than Michael Jordan?”
Payton said,
“I got to guard him 94 feet. I got to think about him coming off of picks. He throws passes, he comes back, tries to steal basketballs, he always moving, he’s taking charge on me he doing a lot of things I had to always focus on him, he only played 34 minutes. That’s what Jerry Sloane played him, and then when you look up he shot the ball 10 times, he made eight, shot seven free throws, he made all seven. Next thing you know you look up he got 16 assists then you think about it and you say dang he got five-six rebounds, and he got five steals and I look up there and I say and he got 27, 16, 5, 5. I can’t deal with that and we get beat about 20. but I’m saying and I’ve played the whole game and got 30 and I’m trying to struggle and we still lose about 20. you know so it’s a big difference. “
The comments from Gary, during the interview, blew up. The video recently got picked up and posted by another NBA legend and someone who played against the Glove, Shaquille O’Neal.
Shaq shared Gary Payton’s answer about John Stockton being harder to guard than Michael Jordan pic.twitter.com/vlE84XjAeZ
— What are NBA Celebs Upto? (@NBACelebsUpdate) October 4, 2023
Shaq recently shared the clipping from the interview on his Instagram story. Though it is not clear as to whether Dr. O’Neal agrees with Payton’s analysis, making that assumption wouldn’t be very off. However, Payton always respected MJ for the level of dedication he put in his game.
MJ reacts to Gary claiming that he “tire him out”
The last dance provided a behind-the-scenes view of what was happening during the 90’s in the NBA. In the entire documentary, one scene stands out as possibly one of the most comical and meme-worthy. During the documentary, Gary said:
“A lot of people backed down to Mike, I didn’t. I made it a point, to tire him out. Just tire him out. Tire the f**k out of him. You just gotta tire him out. I kept hitting him and banging him, and hitting him and bangin’. It took a toll on Mike, they rested him a little bit and then the series changed.”
Michael laughed off Payton’s comments, telling the interviewer,
“The Glove. I had no problem with the glove. I had no problem with Gary Payton. I had a lot of things on my mind. “
Gary even shot back at Michael after the documentary, telling Bill Simmons during an interview that “He couldn’t guard me either”. Even though MJ was the better player, he could just shoot 5-19 from the field with Gary Payton defending him during Game 6 of the 1996 NBA Finals.
