Former NBA star Gary Payton was in no mood to get dragged into a popular debate about his matchups with Michael Jordan.
It’s no secret that during the 1990s, there was no player bigger than Jordan. After all, he led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA Championships with a flawless 6-0 record in the finals.
Speaking of MJ’s game, the Hall of Famer had a plethora of skills, but his scoring prowess was second to none during his era.
Evidently, stopping Jordan was viewed as a Herculean task. However, former NBA star Gary Payton was often known as the ‘Jordan Stopper,’ thanks to his impressive defensive skills.
The Seattle Supersonics icon recently made an appearance during the BudXNBA House event in Mumbai. During the event, Payton answered a plethora of questions.
NBA Analysis Network’s Aaditya Krishnamurthy was among the attendees, where he asked Payton about his thoughts on being referred to as the ‘Jordan Stopper.’ Surprisingly, the Glove wants nothing to do with that tag.
“I don’t care about being the best defender on Michael Jordan. That doesn’t mean anybody. I was the best defender on everybody. I don’t care about that,” Payton said.
He added: “I guard everybody. He wasn’t a focal point for me. Everybody in the NBA was a focal point for me.”
Jordan may not be the focal point for Payton, but history suggests the Bulls star has struggled the most against him. When the two stars met in the 1996 NBA Finals, the Bulls registered a 4-2 win over the Supersonics.
But it was the only time fans saw MJ average below 30.0 points per game in an NBA Finals series. Payton held Jordan to 27.3 points in the six-game series. For context, Jordan averaged 33.6 points per game over 35 NBA Finals matchups in his career.
Regardless of the era, two-way superstars are undoubtedly the most valuable asset a team can have on the roster. Be it Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or LeBron James, all these superstars were tremendous two-way players in the primes of their careers.
However, Payton believes he was the first true two-way star the league saw, and he wants his NBA legacy to reflect that.
“I would want to be remembered as the first two-way basketball player to play on both ends of the floor. I started that. I really didn’t care about scoring. I cared about stopping the opponent, their best player,” he continued.
But what was the reason behind this obsession with defense?
“Because if I stop them, I stop their basketball team because they can’t function without them. That’s what it’s all about for me. My legacy started because of defense,” Payton explained.
He concluded by stating: “People say that that’s great. I love that. But my legacy started by me being a complete basketball player. Both ends of the floor. To sacrifice my game.
“If I’m struggling on the offensive end, don’t worry about offense, let’s focus on defense and trying to stop the other team from winning basketball games.”
Payton has certainly succeeded in leaving an amazing legacy behind as even in 2025, any conversation about the best defensive players of all time isn’t complete without the Glove’s name in it.
