Former NBA point guard and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Gary Payton is being hired as head coach at the College of Alameda in California, per Marc J. Spears of ESPN/Andscape.
Alameda is a junior college program that competes in the Bay Valley Conference.
Payton, 56, served as head coach at Lincoln University in Oakland the past two seasons, as Spears noted. He was let go at the end of last season.
He is best known for his time with the Seattle SuperSonics (1990-2003), helping the franchise reach the 1996 NBA Finals, where they lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
Payton was a 10-time All-Star and nine-time member of the All-Defense first team. He was named Defensive Player of the Year in that 1995-96 season.
He became a journeyman of sorts following his career in Seattle, spending time with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat. Payton won his lone championship with the Heat in 2006.
Along with all those accolades, Payton is considered among the NBA’s all-time greatest trash talkers and ended his career with 250 technicals.
“I never take it too far…I just try to talk and get their mind off the game, and turn their attention on me,’ he once said. “Sometimes I get accused of trash talking even though I’m not…[referees and spectators] immediately figure you’re trash talking. But I could be talking to a guy about what’s going on or asking about his family.”
Payton has also served as a broadcast analyst for FOX Sports and other outlets.
