Will Gary Payton remain a Sonic?

Seattle's rumbling Mount Payton could be close to eruption
Sept. 23, 2002
By Mike Kahn
SportsLine.com Executive Editor



No volcanic ash has spewed out of Mount Rainier recently during a summer of discontent for Gary Payton as he ponders his future with the Seattle SuperSonics.

That's not to say there haven't been a few movements on the seismograph, and by next Tuesday, when training camp opens, we'll know whether he's really angry with his team of 12 seasons or is just posturing as he goes into the final nine months of his seven-year, $85 million contract.


Could Gary Payton be taking his exciting skills elsewhere?(AP)
At 34, Payton is coming off yet another superstar season, averaging 22.1 points and a career-high 9.0 assists while becoming only the second player in history (with Michael Jordan) to be first-team All-Defense for nine consecutive seasons. And he still showed more leadership than ever under the tutelage of his coach and former teammate, Nate McMillan.

But there are problems. Some are financial. The Sonics are struggling with attendance, which has been affected by a slide in the standings from competing for the conference title to just trying to make the playoffs. They are also suffering from the dramatic downturn of the Pacific Northwest economy in the wake of failed dot.coms and Boeing cutbacks, with the throng of owners beyond majority owner Howard Schultz feeling the consequences.

Worse, Schultz has gone on the record and even written his own column in the Seattle Times, saying he can work things out with Payton after the season. Team president Wally Walker has echoed those sentiments; so has general manager Rick Sund.

Evidently, they're all lost in the same dream.

"As we stand today, when Gary is a free agent, he has no interest in re-signing with the Sonics," Payton's agent, Aaron Goodwin, told SportsLine.com on Monday. "I'm open to negotiate right now, but it's up the Sonics. It's up to Howard and Wally. The situation is not the same as it was, no matter what they think."

Payton has never asked for a trade and has always said he'd like to finish his career with the Sonics. But that all changed once management went public with a statement they would not extend his contract. And Payton virtually promised the Seattle Times last week that if he did not get an extension by Oct. 1, there's a "70-30 chance" he won't show up for training camp, and it's time to be serious about dealing him.

The subject has come up the past two offseasons, beginning with the Indiana Pacers showing interest. Then he was nearly dealt to the Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies before the 2001 draft, and again before training camp to San Antonio.

The Pacers remain interested, according to sources, and they have a glut of young talent. Al Harrington, Jonathon Bender and Jamaal Tinsley are three players who would help the Sonics continue their rebuilding mission (along with some draft picks) and still leave the Pacers with a legitimate shot at winning the East, with Payton, Reggie Miller and Jermaine O'Neal as the team's core.

The Pacers have also showed Miller what it's like to be taken care of as a franchise player who stays put for a career.

We'll slow down here, if only because no deal is on the front burner from the Sonics' standpoint. They know Payton is the key if they want any success this season, and a trade is guaranteed to be unpopular among fans.

So the deal might never happen, and Payton would certainly want some sort of extension promised before he'd go anywhere. After all, he is the best player in franchise history, still one of the 10 best players in the NBA, and a lock for the Hall of Fame.

Sund wouldn't go on the record and speak specifically about Payton, although one source told SportsLine.com that they would have begun shopping Payton had Rashard Lewis not signed the seven-year, $60 million-plus contract to stay last week, because they would have needed the young talent. But with Lewis in the fold, they figure with Payton, they still have a decent shot at making the playoffs again.

"Like we've always said, we'll listen to any deal that makes sense," Sund said. "But I won't go into any discussion about Gary."

That's the wisest comment anyone around the organization has made about Payton in recent weeks. He has good reason to be angry, if only because Schultz has spent far too much time in the local media talking about their great relationship, as if he has Payton neatly tucked away in his hip pocket for next summer. Payton is nobody's patsy, that's for sure.

The organization continues to use David Robinson and John Stockton as examples of aging stars who played contracts out and took less money. One minor detail is Payton is playing at a much higher level.

They also use Karl Malone, who was renowned for going in for extensions almost annually. And they used Michael Jordan, who did get one-year deals that were for more than $30 million. Think GP might get $30 mil from the Sonics?

That's a good one.

Yes, the Sonics will be able to pay him more than anybody else because of salary cap rules allowing them to give Payton about $15 million to start a new deal. But they've made it clear that won't happen until they see what the market breeds ... betting it won't be anywhere near the $13 million he's making this season.

That leaves three other better options: 1) offer him a multiyear deal now, even if it is for less money; 2) actively work at a deal with the Pacers; 3) work toward a sign-and-trade with a contender next summer.

And keep in mind, he could just leave, and any contender could sign him to a six-year, $36 million deal for the mid-level exception. If they cut him when he was 38, it would be worth $12 million a year.

You think Payton would fit in well at the mid-level with say, uh, the Lakers?

Goodwin is mystified at how everything has blown so far out of proportion considering they have never even discussed a contract extension of any terms at all, but conversations have gone public and left Payton to stew.

"Do you really think the Sonics would just let Gary walk and get nothing in return?" Goodwin asked rhetorically.

No, but if no extension is offered before the end of the season, he might just run to the highest bidder.

http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/5742775