-
Tim MacMahon
SAN FRANCISCO — The animated verbal exchanges between Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant and Hall of Famer Gary Payton Sr. on Friday night were all in good fun.
“Just talking junk,” Payton told ESPN’s Jorge Sedano from his second-row seat at Chase Center after the third quarter ended with Durant and the 1995-96 defensive player of the year going back and forth.
But Durant meant every word of the trash he talked to Payton, the father of Golden State Warriors wing Gary Payton II, during the Suns’ 130-105 victory.
“It’s always good when I run into an older player, especially if they played in the ’90s, because they feel like that’s the golden years of the NBA,” Durant said. “So I try to let them know, especially GP, I try to let them know what it would have been like if they’d have been on the court with me. They tend to talk down on the mentality of our era’s players.
“G’s a great sport about it — one of my favorite players, somebody I look up to, got major respect for. I think we started in the summer with Team USA. We were all in the same room with Team USA, and the first thing I said to him was that he couldn’t guard me. ‘You’re too small. Them dudes that played back in the day wasn’t close to me.’ I was just talking crazy to him, so I guess we picked it up from there.”
Durant, who scored 19 points in 29 minutes during the win, traded trash talk with Payton for most of the third quarter. Durant finished the quarter with a trio of 3-pointers to stretch the Suns’ lead to 19. At the end of the quarter, he made a beeline toward the corner where Payton was sitting, but Durant was adamant he didn’t need a scoring outburst for fodder in their conversation.
“If I needed to show him that minute of basketball to let him know what I’ve been doing out here … I’ve got 18 years of footage,” Durant said with a smile. “That minute ain’t do much. He knew that was coming.”
Before heading to the Suns’ bench, Durant walked to the block, letting Payton know that’s the area of the floor Durant would use to score on Payton.
“We’re going right into that post,” said Durant, a 15-time All-Star who is 75 points shy of becoming the eighth member of the NBA’s 30,000-point club. “He’s too small, man. [Payton is] 6-4, not really physical like that. He’s just too small for me. And he knows that.
“But GP is one of those players, you’re not going to get that last word on him.”
According to Durant, Payton has never explained how he would defend him.
“I still don’t know,” Durant said, briefly pausing before getting in another dig. “He’d probably just try to foul me, just like his son do.”
Durant looks forward to hearing the fiery retorts from Payton, who retired the year that Durant was drafted, the next time they run into each other.
“It’s always good rapport with the older generation,” Durant said. “They respect me. I respect what they’ve done. But there’s some players that still got that competitive edge and wish they were still out there and still keep that with them everywhere they go. That’s GP, and I respect that about him. So any time, any chance I get to see him, man, we going to talk this trash until we die. It’s all love.”