NBA Hall of Fame point guard Gary Payton tweeted about how soft the current generation of basketball is.
There might never be a point guard in the NBA that is as dominant defensively as Gary Payton was. During his Hall of Fame career, Payton made the All-Defensive First Team nine times and is just one of two guards to be named the Defensive Player of the Year.
Payton was nicknamed “The Glove” and was all over his opponents on a nightly basis. Payton thrived at a time when the NBA was allowed to be physical and the end result was him becoming one of the greatest to ever play the game. He also is considered the best defender to ever take on Michael Jordan.
In today’s game, there might never be another Gary Payton, as the physicality is no longer there and players continue to rack up foul calls with ease. With flopping taking off and players hitting the deck at the slightest of contact, the game has changed and Payton has noticed that.
Payton even called out the current generation of basketball on his Twitter account. According to Payton, the current generation is soft and if he still played in today’s game, he would be paying a lot in fine money.
Payton certainly isn’t wrong about the physicality of the game changing. Hand checks are no longer legal and a superstar simply has to feign being touched to get a call. Guys like Payton thrived on contact and that’s where they earned their keep in the league.
He didn’t care who was lining up against him, whether it was Michael Jordan or Michael Finley. He was going to play lock down defense physically and give his opponent fits all night. That’s something that is much harder to pull off in today’s game, unless a player wants to foul out right away.
The game has fundamentally changed and Payton thinks it’s soft. It’s hard to argue with him.