The Whiteboard: How did it take this long for Gary Payton II to find a niche?

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Among the many surprises the Golden State Warriors have given us this season — a 12-2 record, the best defense in the league, 45.7 points per game from Andrew Wiggins, Damion Lee and Jordan Poole — Gary Payton II playing regular minutes is far from the biggest. But it’s definitely one of the most fun.

The Warriors have surrendered just 89.3 points per 100 possessions with Payton II on the floor. It’s true that he’s usually sharing the floor with several other elite defenders — Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala have been on the court for 48 and 43 percent of his minutes, respectively. But Payton II has been, legitimately, one of the most disruptive on-ball defenders in the league this season.

If Payton II is roughly on track to cross the 1000 minute threshold this season, although he could see less court time when Klay Thompson returns. But if he gets there at his current steal percentage (5.0) it would be tied for the second-best mark in NBA history and well ahead of his dad’s career-best mark of 3.7 percent. He’s also leading the league in deflections per 36 minutes.

He registered just one steal in Tuesday night’s win over the Brooklyn Nets but it led directly to a fastbreak and two free throws for him at the other end. He also recovered this Draymond Green deflection, setting in motion a sequence that ended with him finishing a thunderous alley-oop.

But if this was your first chance to see him work this season you’ve missed some incredible defensive work.

Like his dad, Payton II has always been a tremendous defender. He racked up 175 steals and 53 blocks in just two seasons and 63 games at Oregon State. But his shaky offensive game made it hard for him to find a niche. He did average 14.7 points and 4.1 assists per game in his two college seasons, but he shot just 30.2 percent from beyond the arc and 65.2 percent on free throws. His self-creation skills didn’t translate against the increased level of competition in the NBA and his outside shooting wasn’t good enough to make him viable as a 3-and-D option off the bench.

Before arriving in Golden State last season, he drifted between the Bucks, Lakers, Wizards and several G League teams. Across four NBA seasons, he played a total of 768 minutes, averaging 2.1 steals per 36 minutes but shooting 25.6 percent from beyond the arc and 41.4 percent from the field overall. He was slightly more successful in his various G League stints — averaging 15.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.4 steals across a total of 128 games but still shooting just 27.4 percent from beyond the arc.

Gary Payton II his found a way to contribute at both ends of the floor

Payton II hasn’t dramatically improved as an offensive player but, at age 29, he’s finally found a team where his strengths can be magnified and his weaknesses minimized.

On a team like the Brooklyn Nets, which features so much isolation and needs static spot-up shooters around the arc to maintain spacing in the middle, Payton II wouldn’t really be viable. But on Golden State, a team that leans so heavily on Steph Curry’s ubiquitous and mobile gravity, Payton’s ability to cut and find space inside the arc works perfectly.

Opposing defenders are apt to give Payton space or drift away from him when he’s spotting up and he’s been very good at leveraging those opportunities into timely cuts instead of waiting for the ball to be swung to him behind the arc. He’s strong and athletic and can get more out of even contested opportunities around the basket. For example, where most modern wings would drift to the corner and look for a 3 on this play, he smartly times his cut to get himself a layup without dragging his defender back into the action too soon to cut off the driving lane.

Payton is shooting a somewhat respectable 35.7 percent from beyond the arc, albeit on just 14 total attempts, but 3-point shots are making up a smaller percentage of his shot attempts than at any point in his career. He hasn’t addressed his weakness so much as found a way around it. More than 60 percent of his offensive possessions this season have been used in transition or off cuts in the halfcourt and he’s also averaging 3.4 offensive rebounds per 100 possessions, about the same as Bam Adebayo or Montrezl Harrell. Just under 90 percent of his 2-point baskets have been assisted on and he’s only attempted one 2-pointer from outside the paint.

All that is a different recipe for positive offensive contributions than we normally expect from a 3-and-D player. He gets his team extra opportunities by crashing the glass, he doesn’t turn the ball over because he’s mostly working as a finisher and he’s an excellent one at that — shooting 68.0 percent this season. And with his kinetic motion off the ball, he’s able to put pressure on the defense without clogging up the spacing for his teammates.

It’s all a bit delicate, especially since we’re only 15 games in, and these offensive contributions are situational enough that they may not be able to be scaled up. That is to say, it might not work the same way if injuries pushed him into a starting role or if he was regularly asked to play 25+ minutes per game. But it works in small doses and lets the Warriors get an incredibly disruptive perimeter defender onto the court for 12-15 minutes per game, without suffering a drop-off on offense — something which could be a huge asset once the playoffs roll around.

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