Few point guards in NBA history were as fearless or as competitive as Gary Payton. Nicknamed ‘The Glove’ for his suffocating defense, Payton spent 17 seasons challenging the league’s biggest stars and building a reputation as one of basketball’s greatest trash talkers. Yet according to Payton himself, there was only one player he truly feared facing: John Stockton.
Speaking on The Ryen Russillo Podcast, Payton revealed that the legendary Utah Jazz point guard was the one opponent who consistently gave him problems throughout his Hall of Fame career.
“I didn’t care about nobody. Everybody always wanted to go at me, and all it did was elevate my game. So I wasn’t really fearing anybody but John Stockton. He was the only guy I really, really feared. And that’s because he didn’t really talk to me. He didn’t really give up.”
“With Stockton, eventually I was trying to give up, and then all of a sudden I overcame him in 1996 when we beat them in the Western Conference Finals. Then I said, you know what I gotta do? I gotta change my ways. Which I didn’t want to do. I changed my ways. I stopped talking to him. I started playing the game the way he played it. “
“He was taking charges on me. I started taking charges back on him. And he didn’t understand what I was doing. It was different. He understood me being hard nosed, not wanting to take charges, always wanting to bully people. Then next thing you know, I started playing the way he did. And it worked.”
Their rivalry became one of the defining point guard matchups of the 1990s. Across 70 career meetings, Stockton held a slight edge with a 38-32 overall record against Payton. That included a 27-22 advantage in the regular season and an 11-10 edge in playoff games.
Statistically, both players produced at an elite level against each other. Payton averaged 17.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 2.1 steals in those matchups. Stockton countered with 13.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, 10.2 assists, and 2.1 steals. The Hall of Famers also met in four separate playoff series, splitting those battles 2-2.
Stockton is widely regarded as one of the smartest players in NBA history. He remains the league’s all-time leader in assists with 15,806 and steals with 3,265, records that many believe may never be broken. He was a 10-time All-Star, 11-time All-NBA selection, five-time All-Defensive Team member, and twice led the Jazz to the NBA Finals alongside Karl Malone.
Payton’s resume is equally impressive. He averaged 16.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 1.8 steals during his career, won the 1996 Defensive Player of the Year award, earned nine All-Star selections, nine All-NBA selections, and became the only point guard ever to win Defensive Player of the Year.
Payton’s comments are particularly noteworthy because he has consistently praised Stockton throughout the years. He has repeatedly pushed back against the notion that Stockton was a dirty player, arguing that many of the physical plays from that era were simply part of the game.
Payton has also gone as far as calling Stockton the greatest point guard of all time, citing his unmatched basketball IQ, toughness, and consistency. In previous interviews, Payton revealed that Stockton was the only player he could never trash-talk or get under the skin of, a remarkable admission from one of the league’s most notorious talkers.
He has even stated that Stockton was tougher to guard than legends such as Michael Jordan and LeBron James because of how many different ways he could impact a game. According to Payton, Stockton’s ability to control the tempo, create opportunities for teammates, set hard screens, cut without the ball, and make winning plays every possession made him one of the most difficult players he ever faced.
For a player as confident as Payton, admitting fear was rare. But his comments highlight the immense respect he had for Stockton, whose toughness, intelligence, and relentless style made him perhaps the most difficult opponent Payton ever faced.
