Gary Payton

“You can't regret anything - it's over with.”

“To Seattle, Washington, the SuperSonics organization and its fans, the best owners ever in the Ackerley family, I love you. But the best part is that you loved me back.”

“I've got a lot of stats. I did a lot of stuff.”

“It's just a great honor to even be associated with the Hall of Fame and get in. If I eventually do make it, it will be a great honor, and I don't care if it's the first or second time because it's an honor for anyone to make the Hall of Fame.”

“I was guarding the best player and getting 25 and having eight assists, and three-four steals.”

“Larry Bird was a talker. He'd tell you something and you'd be like, are you kidding me? You're really telling me that?”

“I didn't grow up admiring anybody but George Gervin, and I didn't get a chance to play against him. That would've been one of my lifetime accomplishments. I probably would've went crazy if I played against him, because he's like a father to me now.”

“Gary Payton is evolving, but GP is in the Hall of Fame.”

“In my day I think the toughest was Derek Harper. The old-school Derek Harper. He was tough. He had the most toughest, nastiest game ever. I hated playing against him because he would always try to rip you, and try to talk to you. People just didn't really know that about Derek Harper. I used to hate bringing the ball up against him, really.”

“I'm always going to admire my father more than anybody in life.”

“It's always going to have an effect when your father comes up and scolds you in front of a lot of people.”

“I'm a big fan of Marcus Smart.”

“When I was playing, it was me playing both ends of the floor, playing offense, playing defense and I gave the ball up with assists. It wasn't like me doing one thing, scoring 25 and having three assists and one steal.”

“I became real good friends with John Stockton and Karl Malone and am still good friends with them to this day. It was always good to go see them and then play with them in the 1996 Olympics as well. I idolized John Stockton at the time, I tried to model my game after him.”

“To go into Key Area every day, sold out, it was hard to come in there and get a win against us. That's when we used to make people understand, you can't come in and get a win against us. We were probably one of the hardest arenas to win in. Our fans were crazy. They would camp out.”

“I like Draymond Green's intensity... but every time I didn't get a call I didn't cry all the time.”

“I've always liked Deron Williams because has the same mentality as me.”

“I own 60 retro jerseys. I've got everybody - the late Derrick Thomas, a lot of people.”

“People always talk about first-ballot Hall of Famer and all that stuff, but it doesn't really make a difference. Once you get in there, you're a Hall of Famer. It doesn't matter if you get in on the first, second or third ballot. It's the same thing.”

“Xavier McDaniel made me respect him. I thought I could do anything I wanted to. He grabbed me one time and almost choked me out. He said, 'You're going to do this. You're going to go get coffee. You're going to go get doughnuts.' It's a game of respect.”