The Golden State Warriors dynasty has been built around the core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. And while these three have been incredibly influential in helping the Warriors win 4 championships in 8 seasons while making it to 2 more NBA Finals, another reason the franchise has been so dominant recently is the fact that they have always managed to find great role players for their roster.
Gary Payton II, a player that bounced around the league and the G League with very little success before this, turned into an extremely important piece of the roster during this latest run to the NBA title for the Warriors. The 29-year-old joined the team on a 10-day contract and thought he wouldn’t be retained, he even tried coming back in a video analysis role. But Green has revealed on The Draymond Green Show that he and Steph Curry ensured that Payton was brought back to the team.
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“I remember his 10-day [contract] ended, and you know where that 10-day ended at?” Green said during the podcast, with Payton sitting a few feet away listening to the whole thing. “That 10-day ended here in Boston. And he’s dapping all of us up like ‘Yo, it’s been great. I appreciate y’all.’
“I’m like ‘What are you talking about?’ And he’s like ‘My 10-day is up.’ I’m like ‘Dude, you’ll be here. See you later.’ And then I called Bob, Steph called Bob, we’re like ‘You can’t get rid of GP. Like, you got to bring him back. You see what he’s doing? You got to bring him back.’ And that was the start of all of this.”
Knowing the right kind of players you need around you to make it all the way is a part of championship pedigree, so it’s no surprise that Curry and Green went to bat for Payton as they did. These little things are important for any franchise to establish a winning culture and as great as it has been for Gary Payton II, it has also worked out extremely well for the Warriors.
