One thing to know about Gary Payton II?
“He will get into your shorts. He'll make you uncomfortable when he is defending you,” said Meghan McPeak, the play-by-play voice of the Capital City GoGo, the Wizards’ G League affiliate.
Like father, like son.
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Gary Payton, the former Seattle SuperSonics star, won Defensive Player of the Year during the 1995-1996 season. The younger Payton, known as GP2, won the G League’s Defensive Player of the Year award earlier this month, after leading the league in steals as a member of Raptors 905.
The Warriors signed GP2 to a 10-day contract Thursday, just in time to face his old Wizards team on Friday.
GP2 played a total of 32 games with the Wizards over two seasons, in addition to time with the Capital City GoGo.
McPeak saw GP2 up close, and told NBC Sports Bay Area about his strong points.
Golden State Warriors
“He is athletic. I know everybody in the NBA is familiar with his dunking ability [at Oregon State] and his athleticism from that standpoint. But I love his game because I like anyone who's a southpaw,” McPeak said.
“I find that southpaws play the game so smooth, it's really hard to guard them because it's unconventional to what most defenders are used to playing,” she continued.
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GP2 joins Kelly Oubre Jr., James Wiseman, and Kent Bazemore as left-handers on the roster.
“And the one thing I think he has to his advantage ... is the fact that he's gonna know how to exploit defenders defending him. Because he’s a southpaw, he knows how to attack the weaknesses of the defense,” McPeak said.