Who Is Gary Payton II? Bio, Height, Weight, Parents, And Family

Quick Facts

Gary Payton II is not just an exceptional basketball player but one with several awards and honours to show for it. As a college student playing for the Oregon State Beavers, he earned the First-team All-Pac-12, Pac-12 All-Defensive Team, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, to mention but a few. He began his NBA career in 2016 with the Houston Rockets as an undrafted agent and also played for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers before signing a training camp contract with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2018.

Who Is Gary Payton II? Bio

Gary was born in Seattle, Washington on the 1st of December 1992 to Monique and Gary Payton with the birth name Gary Dwayne Payton II. He schooled at Spring Valley High School where he played basketball and at the same time, was a member of the swimming team. After his graduation in 2011, he spent one session at the Westwind Preparatory Academy.

He would later play basketball for two seasons at the Salt Lake Community College, Salt Lake City, Utah. As a freshman, he led the team to the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) where they won the SWAC title. During his first season with the team, he was also named the First Team All-SWAC and made the Region 18 All-Tournament Team list. As a sophomore, Gary Payton II earned the Second Team NJCAA Division I All-American after recording an average of 7.9 rebounds, 14.1 points, 1.9 steals and 3.8 assists per game. In that same year, he won Region 18 Co-Player of the Year Award and also earned 18 Tournament Most Valuable Player of the Year. With him on the team, the Bruins won Region 18 Championship for the second time in a row.

Gary Payton II proceeded to play college basketball at Oregon State University (the same college his father attended). During his time with the Oregon State Beavers, he earned the First-team All-Pac-12, Pac-12 All-Defensive Team, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.

In 2016, he was on Bob Cousy Award list as one of the ten point guards of the year. His name also appeared on the 35-man mid-season watch list for the Naismith Player of the Year.

NBA Career

No team picked him at the 2016 NBA Draft, after which he joined the Houston Rockets for the Summer League. The Rockets would later sign him in September and waived him the next month (October) following his appearance in six of their games. In that same month, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League acquired him. In a December game against Los Angeles D-Fenders, Payton hit fifty-one points on 20-of-29 shooting with eleven rebounds.

His tenure with the Vipers ended by 1st April 2017 and the next day, he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks and made his first appearance for the team the same night in a game against the Dallas Mavericks where he scored 5 points in 9 minutes. In October, precisely on the 14th, he was waived and on the 17th, he was given a 2-way-deal by the Bucks through their G League affiliate the Wisconsin Herd. The implication of the deal was that Payton II would return to the Bucks at the start of the next season.

Gary Payton II’s first NBA game was in November 2017, in a game against Phoenix Suns. He played as a starting small forward, unfortunately, he had to leave the game early due to an injury. In January 2018, he was on the Los Angeles Lakers’ team on another 2-way-contract and for the rest of the 2018 season, he played for both the Lakers and their G League affiliate team – the South Bay Lakers.

During his last game for the season which was against the Los Angeles Clippers, Gary did not only score a career-high of twenty-five points but also recorded a career-high of twelve points. In September 2018, he signed a training camp deal with the Portland Trail Blazers.

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His Family, Parents

As mentioned above, Gary is the son of Monique James and Gary Payton. His father, Gary Payton Sr., is a retired NBA player who played the point guard position for several NBA teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, and Los Angeles Lakers (the same teams his son has played for), Miami Heat, Seattle SuperSonics, and Boston Celtics. He was with the Seattle team for thirteen full seasons when he broke the team’s records in assists, points and steals.

Payton II’s parents got married in 1997, about five years after he was born but the couple later got divorced. Gary Payton II is the first of the three children Monique and Gary Sr. had together. His two younger siblings are Julia and Raquel. He also has a half-brother named Gary Payton Jr whom his father had with another woman.

His Height, Weight

The point guard stands at a height of 6 ft 2 in (1.9 m) with a perfect athletic body that weighs 83 kg (183 pounds) to go with it. His other body measurements have not been confirmed at the moment but his body is obviously in good shape.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.