Gary Payton II Rumors

Gary Payton: I pressed my son too much. He was around basketball all the time and he got pressed a lot. It’s one of those things where you can steer your son away from loving the game of basketball. My son stopped liking it [when he was young]. As of today, he listens… but he don’t listen. It’s gotta come from somebody else. Then, when they don’t make it and they aren’t productive like they want to be, you want to go say, “See, what did I tell you? Why don’t you want to listen to me?” But that’s not the right thing to do. So I’ve backed off from my son. When he calls me, if he calls me, I’ll say what I say and then leave it alone. I won’t even go into it anymore. Now that he’s got his guaranteed contract for the first time and he’s staying up, I told him, “You should’ve been doing this since day one.” But they always got excuses. This is a different era and they always got excuses, man. “They should’ve let me play!” or, “They let me play, but [they should’ve] let me do this or that!” It’s not about all that. It’s about seeing what the coach wants and doing it, doing what the organization wants. But, nowadays, I just let him do what he gotta do and however he wants to do it.