Today, the NBA Hall of Fame ceremony was largely ignored by fans as the ceremony took place during the first NFL Sunday of the season. Despite the number of people who choose to watch football over the induction, Lakers Nation would like to congratulate Gary Payton for being selected to the 2013 Hall of Fame class.
Payton finished his career with nine All-NBA First team selections, nine All-NBA Defensive First Team selections and was name the NBA’s defensive player of the year in 1996. At the end of his career, he ranked fourth all time in steals and eighth all time in assists. Payton would play in three NBA Finals — 1996 with the Sonics, 2004 with the Lakers, and 2006 with the Heat — with his only Finals win coming with Miami.
During Payton’s one year with the Lakers, he helped Kobe Bryant become a better defensive player, and that one year with the Lakers, Bryant recorded the second lowest defensive rating of his career.
Payton will go down as one of the more iconic figures in sports as he was nicknamed The Glove for his propensity for playing great defense, and he was also one of the NBA’s most famed trash talkers.
Payton joins Roger Bron, Dr. E.B. Henderson, Socar Schmidt, Richard Guerin, Russ Granik, Bernard King, Guy v. Lewis, Rick Patino, Jerry Tarkanian, Sylvia Hatchell, and Dawn Staley in the 2013 class. Kobe sent out a congratulatory tweet to Payton and Staley earlier today.
Congrats to @dawnstaley @GaryPayton_20 and the great Oscar!! #HoF
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) September 8, 2013
Check out the top plays of Gary Payton’s career.
