Gary Payton Quotes

I have no doubt that LeBron James would've loved to have played against Michael Jordan, but that simply is not going to happen.

I always found it a great challenge playing against Michael Jordan, to play against Magic Johnson, to play against Larry Bird, to play against all those good players because it's something that you can take away from it.

I think the greatest player I've ever played against was Magic Johnson. Next, was Larry Bird. Then, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were the two guys with unstoppable moves.

Charles Barkley played in an era where he was never the guy. He always had to take a back seat to Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isaiah Thomas, because what did they have that he never got? A championship.

Doug Christie, what skill, what strenght, what power, what quickness. The visionof Magic Johnson, the athletisicm of Michael Jordan, the toughness of larry Bird. Dough Christie has it all

In 1981, when I went down to visit Georgia Tech, I watched Michael Jordan play and literally get ridiculed for taking a jump shot in the championship game that went off the backboard, and they won. People are forgetting that Michael was just one of the players when they went to the Dream Team.

Magic Johnson didn't play the style that Larry Bird did, and Michael Jordan sure didn't play the style that Magic or Bird played.

When I started playing, my mom said there were three players she wanted me to watch - Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.

I watched a lot of Scottie Pippen, Magic Johnson, Kevin Durant, and a lot of Paul Pierce. I used to watch Tracy McGrady as well along with Kevin Garnett.

Magic was always my favorite. I think Jordan was the best player ever, but Magic was my personal favorite.

I always watched Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, and I said I could be playing on the court with them.

For soccer, it was Diego Maradona, and then another idol for me was Michael Jordan. To see them play and how that they could impact the game was pretty special.

Kobe was hell-bent on surpassing Jordan as the greatest player in the game. His obsession with Michael was striking. When we played in Chicago that season, I orchestrated a meeting between the two of them, thinking that Michael might help shift Kobe’s attitude toward selfless teamwork. After they shook hands, the first words out of Kobe’s mouth were, ‘You know I can kick your ass one on one.’

Well, (Michael) Jordan was definitely one of the kings of the game. There's no question that he was one of the more dominant figures. If you look at the top ten players of all time, he was certainly one of the most dominant guys.

Magic Johnson was my favorite player growing up.

LeBron just wants to win.

I love LeBron, but Kobe was the first player I actually considered my favorite.

It was larger than life - the 76ers, Dr. J, Moses Malone, Mo Cheeks, Andrew Toney and Bobby Jones - those were the teams that I grew up following.

It's an honor to play on the same team as some of the best players in the history of the game.

In the old days Michael Jordan and Larry Bird worked for everything they got. They worked hard on their game.

I became real good friends with John Stockton and Karl Malone and am still good friends with them to this day. It was always good to go see them and then play with them in the 1996 Olympics as well. I idolized John Stockton at the time, I tried to model my game after him.

In college, I prided myself on defense and guarding the best player every night.

Yes, I played in '92 with the original Dream Team, and then again in '96 with what they labeled 'Dream Team III.'

I'm blessed just making it to the NBA. That was my first goal and dream. Playing with Kobe and Shaq and for a coach like Phil Jackson, and then going to play with guys like Jordan and Jerry Stackhouse, it's just a crazy experience.