The Warriors’ roster is littered with shooters who can splash one at any given time. It starts, of course, with Steph Curry, who leads the NBA with 126 made 3-pointers this season and is on the brink of breaking Ray Allen’s all-time record.
The rest of the starting backcourt needs to be checked at the 3-point line, too. Andrew Wiggins erupted for a career-high eight 3-pointers in Monday night’s rout of the Orlando Magic and is shooting a career high 41.6 percent, while Jordan Poole is only shooting 35.3 percent but still liable to catch fire any night.
You know about the sharpshooting exploits of Otto Porter Jr. (41 percent) and Nemanja Bjelica (38.6 percent) on the second unit, but don’t sleep on Gary Payton II. GPII has been floating around the NBA for the past five seasons but is carving out a regular role for Warriors coach Steve Kerr. Payton is known for his defense and high-flying act on offense, but he’s quietly shooting 40.6 percent from 3-point range this season, including 44.4 percent over the past 10 contests.
“Gary’s worked hard on his shot,” Kerr said Monday. “He worked really hard all summer and it showed in summer league, he shot the ball well there. It’s shown up through a quarter of the season, he’s knocking down the corner three with good consistency. He’s playing with a lot of confidence.”
Payton has earned his NBA stripes with his suffocating defense and non-stop energy on that side of the floor, but said his goals are focused on developing his offensive game this season.
“To continue to shoot the ball,” Payton said. “I’m going to have open shots. Just to continue to hit open threes in the corner and continue to be a playmaker on offense. Even if I’m initiating the offense, whatever I can do in the offense, cutting whatnot, just to continue to improve my offensive game and continue to improve my defense as well.”
Payton was a career 26.7 percent 3-point shooter before 2021-22. He has made 13-of-32 3-pointers in 23 games this season, so it’s a small sample size. If you take a look at his season-long shot chart, you can see he favors the corners from 3-point range, where he’s shooting 9-for-21 (42.9 percent) compared to 4-for-11 (36 percent) from the wing or the top of the key.
via StatMuse
Otherwise, Payton has relied on his athleticism and mostly lived at the rim. He doesn’t need to do much more scoring in the Warriors’ high-powered offense. But if he can keep defenders honest from the 3-point line, that’d do wonders for the second unit’s spacing.
Payton occupies a unique role in the Warriors’ offense. Though he’s listed at 6-foot-3, GPII often moves and acts like a forward in Kerr’s system. He’s also the team’s best lob threat until James Wiseman returns.
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The 29-year-old is averaging 6.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 14.9 minutes per game. Payton has been one of the league’s most efficient offensive players, as his 67.7 field goal percentage (63-of-93 FG) ranks fifth among NBA players with at least 90 shot attempts. His 174 cumulative plus/minus this season is fourth-best in the league.
“There’s never been a question about his defensive acumen and he’s bounced around the league because he’s a great defender,” Kerr said. “He hasn’t been able to stick, partly because it’s been a tough fit offensively. … His shooting has improved which has helped, playing with these guys here, the shooting that we have, allows us to play him as a big, a screener and a diver, and that’s been helpful, too.”
Following last week’s big win over the Suns, Payton gave a shoutout to Juan Toscano-Anderson, noting how he worked his way “out the mud” in the G League to earn a guaranteed contract with the Warriors last season. After securing the 15th and final roster spot on the same day as the season opener, Payton is still on a non-guaranteed deal with the Warriors (along with Damion Lee), but teams face a Jan. 7 deadline to waive players or their contracts are guaranteed on Jan. 10. Both players seem unlikely to be put on waivers and seem like candidates to get well-deserved guaranteed deals.
“I think the biggest thing is that Gary has just worked, worked, worked,” Kerr said. “He’s earned this.”
Shortly after this article was orginally published, Payton sent out the following tweet, so it appears he's thinking about the guaranteed deal deadline, too.
