Gary Payton is one of the greatest point guards to have ever played in the NBA, and he is also one of the greatest trash talkers. Payton played 17 seasons in the league, during which he won a title to go with a Defensive Player of the Year award, and his constant chirping meant he climbed all the way up to 4th all-time for technical fouls in NBA history with 250.
He would often get into people’s heads with all that talking, and unfortunately, he would cross the boundaries that are set when it comes to trash talk. It is often said that families of opponents are off limits in these situations, but that never stopped Payton from bringing it up.
The Art Of Trash-Talking With Gary Payton
“If I knew something about a person’s mother, I knew something about his sister. If he had just got a drunk driving charge, I would go at the situation. It might be cruel to some people, but I would go at it." pic.twitter.com/YpAr6ChYH7
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) July 23, 2022
“If I knew something about a person’s mother, I knew something about his sister. If he had just got a drunk driving charge, I would go at the situation. It might be cruel to some people, but I would go at it.”
That is definitely cruel, and as Payton kept doing this for years, it was bound to one day cause significant issues, and that happened when he talked trash about Lamar Odom’s mother during a game. Odom’s mother had passed away from colon cancer, a fact that Payton was unaware of, and he ended up apologizing to him for his comments. There is a reason why they say you shouldn’t cross that line, as you just don’t know what someone has gone through in their past.
That didn’t stop him from running his mouth moving forward, however, as it was just who he was. Payton is pretty good at recognizing others like him, too, and he once revealed his All-90s trash-talking team. Someone who surprisingly didn’t make the cut was Kevin Garnett, who is regarded as one of the best ever when it comes to it. Andre Iguodala recently revealed that there is a player who would swing at KG even if they were 85 years old and also stated that Garnett made one of his teammates cry once. It is safe to say that players nowadays are a lot nicer on the court as they probably should be.
