When it comes to West Coast basketball, the Paytons—Gary “The Glove” Sr. and Gary Dwayne II—are royalty.
Murals of the Oakland-bred Payton Sr. abound on East Oakland’s streets, where the Hall of Famer cut his teeth on his way to becoming, in 1996, the first ever point guard to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. Nowadays, he’s the head coach at nearby College of Alameda and has teamed up with NBA Top Shot.
Meanwhile, the younger Payton II—a top-tier defender in his own right, with the acrobatic flare to finish alley-oops far above the rim—has gone on to make a name for himself at Chase Center in San Francisco. A fan favorite with the Golden State Warriors, Payton II hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2022 as one of the Dubs’ primary role players. Following a slew of injuries and a short stint with the Portland Trail Blazers, the guard is back in elite shape with Golden State.
He’s a major reason the new-look Warriors have been able to blitz the league with a stout defense that has kept them battling atop the Western Conference. Currently, the team by the Bay is hoping to keep pace with the league’s crop of rising challengers, having already notched wins against Boston, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Memphis and Houston. (A recent addition of the German speed-demon Dennis Schröder should help with that moving forward.)
Payton II jumped on the phone to chat about the Warriors’ start, his least favorite nickname and balancing expectations as the son of an NBA legend. Plus, his deep rotation of custom-made pants.
GQ: First off, everyone is glad to see you back on the court this season.
Payton II: My dawg, I appreciate it. And you already know, the last few years have been a little shaky with injuries, but we’re off to a good start.
I have to ask. You’re the son of a legendary hooper, Gary Payton. Steph Curry, your longtime teammate, also grew up in an NBA household. But no one in the league has played on the same roster as their parent—until Bronny James. Do you have any advice for someone in his position?
Growing up, we have those expectations to follow your father sometimes and be as great as him. But if your dad is LeBron James, I can only imagine how different that feels. It’s the first time ever that a father and son are playing at the same time [in the NBA]. That’s crazy.
What do you think it would’ve been like to play on the same NBA team with your dad?
I can’t even speak on that. No one has ever done it. But Bronny has been doing a great job handling it and just focusing on basketball. I think right now, the G League will help him tremendously and give him more opportunities. I really do.
You didn’t grow up in the Bay Area, but your family is from Oakland. And you’ve obviously lived here during your tenure as a Warrior. How would you describe your connection to this region?
It’s huge. I live in San Francisco now, close to the arena, but I’ve been coming to the Bay since I was little. My dad had his off season out here every year, so we always used to spend that time in the East Bay just hanging out with family. Seeing my grandmother, grandfather. We actually never came to the city [in San Francisco]. Most of that time was in Danville [a suburb of Oakland] where we had our house. I barely eat out, to be honest. I really got family out here, so I get home cooked meals as much as I can. [For Thanksgiving], my mom came over and cooked at my house and we just kicked it with family.
When you’re not hooping, you’re out at major festivals like Outside Lands and Bottle Rock. You’re definitely a part of the Bay’s cultural fabric.
As I got older, and work brought me back here, I started to appreciate and take advantage of living in the Bay. In the summers, there’s always festivals happening, and I just try to interact with everyone and be in the mix with the community. I grew up on E-40, Earl Stevens. Uncle Earl. You already know. OGs like Rich and [Too] $hort used to come over and hang out with us. All the legends used to come by and would tap in. I also appreciate a lot of the artists here today. Larry June. P-Lo. LaRussell. [Mistah] Fab. Kehlani. Kamaiyah. Saweetie. G-Eazy. DJ Shabbaz. I see them around when I can. Whenever I can tap in with them, it’s all love. It’s genuine. Just being from the Town, feel me?
I’ve seen you repping local brands like Jordan Jimenez’s Maraud. LeagueFits on Instagram also praised your pants wardrobe, and someone in the comments dubbed you “Gary Panton II” because of your denim collection with huge patches. As a fashionable dude, what designers are you messing with these days?
(Laughs). For the pants it’s mostly just about being comfortable. A cool pair of sweats or jeans. If it’s stretchy and comfortable, I’ll go with that 90% of the time. Those pants with the patches, I got a bunch of styles like that from a guy named Alexander. He supplies me [with] a lot of my pants. He made sweats and a matching ski mask for me using old school Coogi. Almost all my sweats from him are one-of-one. I got my teammates some stuff, too. He got Jonathan Kuminga a cut-off jacket. Another brand I really mess with is El Wood out of Los Angeles. Real cozy. They mostly do sweats as well, but they’re expanding. The brand and the people behind it are dope.
The Dubs have been battling near the top of the Western Conference. What do you think changed between this season and last, when the team failed to make the playoffs?
We have different pieces this season. We have a small team, but we do our best to make it work. Kyle Anderson [is] a perfect fit for us. What happened to Melt [De’Anthony Melton, who suffered an ACL injury and was subsequently traded] was unfortunate. But overall we have a lot of aggressive guys who can just play basketball. Buddy [Hield]. Lindy [Waters III]. Moses [Moody]. Anyone can come in right on cue. We’ve been doing this since the summer, so anybody can be thrown in. We’re 11, 12 deep. Coach can play 11, 12 guys. That’s a change for all of us. Having only a certain amount of minutes, it’s like a hockey team doing line changes. Most players aren’t used to coming in and out like that, trying to get a rhythm. But we bought into that with the coaching staff from the jump. Right now it’s working, we all have fresh legs. It’s all about keeping Draymond and 30 [Steph Curry] healthy and making that push later in the season and into the playoffs. But somebody can be the guy any night.
One big change has obviously been the departure of former Splash Brother, Klay Thompson. What did he mean to Dub Nation and to you, personally, as his teammate for multiple seasons?
Klay has always been amazing since I first arrived in 2021. He’s always been himself. Super chill. Laidback. Just wants to hoop. Then he had to deal with injuries. Seeing how much he dedicated to the game and the work he put in to get back to doing what he loves. That was special. Dub Nation loves him. Everybody knows that. The night of him coming back [to play against the Warriors for the first time], the entire arena wore a captain hat. That hit different. It hit us all. Me just having a part in sharing the court with him and winning a championship together, for him and his legacy, that was unreal. And to do it in the Bay where it all started out. Man.
That’s real. You’ve also become a fan favorite in your own right. There’s a viral clip the Warriors shared this season of you interacting with a young fan courtside before tip-off.
Being with the crowd, the fans, the kids. That’s what it’s all about, really. I was once that same kid just running around the arena and wanting to interact with the players. I like to have fun out there. I look at the bigger picture. I play basketball for a living. There are bigger and more important things going on, and people come to watch us play and have a good time. I just want to put smiles on faces.
During an NBA Cup game on ESPN, Mike Breen commented on how you pressured him into giving Draymond Green more credit for his shooting this year. He jokingly brought it up during the broadcast and eventually gifted Dray with a famous “bang!” which I don’t think he had ever done until that moment.
“Let me get a bang for Draymond!”. (Laughs). That’s all I said. All those guys on the TV side, they make the game entertaining for the fans who are listening and watching at home. Gotta have fun with them, too.
Speaking of fun, who’s the hardest defensive assignment in the league right now?
The lanky guys. The Kevin Durants. Jayson Tatums. Giannises. Those guys are all built different. We do the best we can as defenders, but they’re gonna score. You just gotta make it a little bit more difficult. Crowding a taller guy, as a small guy, the tall guys don’t like that. Some go your way, some don’t. Also, the quicker guards are tough. Ja [Morant]. Tyrese [Maxey]. Darius Garland. They’re so unpredictable, quick, explosive. Those games are fun for me. It’s like a track race. That brings the best out of everyone. Those are just great games with the highest level of offense and defense on both ends.
How has Jerry Stackhouse helped with the defense? And what’s your relationship with him like? I remember he used to get into fights when he was in the league.
Man, we got Stack. He’s a player’s coach so he understands. Defense was a big part of his game. You bring in a guy like him, and now you got three brains with him, Draymond and Steve [Kerr]. You’re naturally gonna have great schemes and ideas on how to cover everything. Our players are committed and come with that energy and effort on defense, too. We can be pretty good at that part. We want to get better though. We just went on a losing streak. We gotta come back to playing our defense, trusting it, doing what we do. It’s all about getting in that rhythm.
Your dad was known as The Glove for his stifling defensive abilities. Did you ever get a nickname?
They used to call me The Mitten growing up. That’s crazy. [Laughs.] I hated it.
The Mitten?
Yeah, it’s smaller than a glove, I guess. [Laughs.]
What about other nicknames on the Warriors? Who’s got the best one?
Slow Mo is cold. Everyone calls Kyle Anderson that. Slow Mo is just Slow Mo. Then of course you got 30, The Chef. [Steph Curry is] different with it. You got Tune [Kevon Looney]. JK [Jonathan Kuminga]. I think that’s it.
Any chance you’ll compete in the upcoming Dunk Contest in San Francisco this February? You’ve got the hops and the highlight reels for it. And you’ll be on your home turf.
No way. No way. No way. (Laughs). I had my shot before, a few years ago. I didn’t do it. I don’t have any cool dunks. I only have in-game dunks. Just gimme buckets during the game. Fast breaks, alley oops. Let me dunk real quick and then get back on defense.
