Gary Payton compares the 2004 Lakers championship team he played on to LeBron's current roster, saying they're nothing alike. The 2004 squad had Kobe, Shaq, Malone and Payton all in their prime; today's Lakers are aging, injured, and lack cohesion. Payton says Westbrook is overthinking his role instead of adapting to sharing the ball with LeBron and AD.
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'03, a lot of people try to compare this Lakers team today, which is LeBron, AD, Russ, Ariza, Dwight Howard, obviously a lot of guys who have or will be Hall of Fame players. And when they assembled this team, a lot of people said, "Oh man, this is like the 2003 team where they had Kobe and Shaq and they added GP, they added Karl Malone, they added all of these guys." and they didn't win a championship. Now, obviously the season isn't over for them. And obviously it's not going the way that they want it to go. But I thought it was kind of crazy when everybody decided to compare y'all to them because number one, Kobe and Shaq were still—
In their prime.
In their prime. Where LeBron is still a great player. Like LeBron is still one of the, if not the best player in the NBA. You can always make that argument. Arguably the greatest player of all times. You can make that argument, but he is in year 19, if I'm not mistaken, year 19. And so they weren't in their prime. So right there alone, I thought was different where, you know, y'all got them two young hogs in their prime going at it. And you were still rolling too. Like you continued on after that as well. And I think the only, like, Malone was older at that point.
But it wasn't the same. He was way older, yeah. He was way older, Draymond, and you got that right. I was just only in my 13th season. That was it. I was only in my 13th season. So I was still rolling. I had just came off the All-Star team. I had did all that. I was just averaging 23, 24 points or whatever and went there. And all of a sudden, what happened was that we had a lot of different stuff going on. I mean, remember Kobe had got in trouble in Denver. Shaq was feuding with Dr. Buss. And then Karl got hurt. And guess what, Draymond? We still made the championship.
Absolutely.
Still made a championship. I was the only one on the team that played all 82 games. I was the one who directed all the stuff. And we had players that came in and fit in. I don't think this Lakers team is nothing like our team in 2003.
At all.
I think we had players that knew their role. I think the Lakers team right now is, they hurt too. They're very hurt. Yes, they are.
A lot of them hurt.
You know what I'm saying? A lot of them are not playing. And I don't think Russ is playing the way that he should be playing. It's a new thing to him to go and be the man so long. And then you gotta go with AD and LeBron and you gotta give them the ball. He's so much dominant on the basketball that he's not doing the things he did. I think he's thinking too much. I just went to the game. I just went to the game the other night on the 23rd and watched them play against San Antonio. And I think he thinks too much. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And they rely on LeBron so much that they're watching him. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
They don't play the way that you guys play. Like if people cut and move and do that, they're watching the basketball too much. And I just think the team is not that way. I think our guys were, Kobe was in his prime. He was a dog. You know, he can come out and get 50 anytime he wanted to. Shaq could dominate the inside. Myself as a point guard was running it. We were running a triangle, which was new to me and Karl, but Karl got hurt, you know, and he missed 60 games. He missed 62 games. That's crazy. And that was bad. It was crazy. 18 and 2 when he got hurt. 18 and 2. And he got hurt. So it was, it was crazy for us. And then all of a sudden Shaq misses 40 games. Kobe misses 37.
Mm-hmm.
So, you know, that was just crazy for us. But I don't think this team that the Lakers got are nothing like us. I think we were, we were more in our prime. A lot of us was way more in our prime than they were. And I, but I, you know, the guys on there right now, Draymond Green, like you said, Carmelo Anthony, Westbrook, all them dudes, Anthony, all them gonna go to the Hall of Fame. It's just that they're hurt. They're just hurt right now. And it's just a struggle. And it's hard to put a team like that together and you guys are not healthy.
100%. And I, you know, people always ask me like, who do you worry about in the West? Phoenix, Utah? Like, yeah, you know, Phoenix and Utah are really good teams. Like, I think, you know, when you roll down to it in the end, conference finals, all that, those two teams will possibly be right there with us.
Yeah.
I have no doubt in my mind about that. But I always tell people, like, you still gotta worry about the Lakers. Like, they still got LeBron James. They still got Anthony Davis. They still got Russell Westbrook. They still got Carmelo Anthony. They still have guys that can beat you. And you can go on about it, about your day and your life and your months up until the playoffs and think, that they aren't to be dealt with. As a player, as someone who gotta face those guys, someone in the same division, those guys still have to be dealt with. There's too much talent on that basketball court, on that team, to not have to deal with those guys. So, I mean, you're talking— Right. Probably legitimately 6 Hall of Famers. Hey, you gotta deal with those guys. So I don't really make too much of what's going on right now and what people are saying, you still gotta deal with those guys. But I do think Russ is overthinking it a little bit. And I understand it also. Obviously, I'm not who Russell Westbrook is. I don't have the ball as much, or never have in my career, as Russell Westbrook does. But I do understand the sacrifices that it takes when you're playing with guys like that that got it— that should have the ball. I understand the sacrifice it take.
Mm-hmm.
And trying to find that balance. For me, I completely stopped shooting. Like, totally stopped shooting because you're just trying to find that balance to get those guys the ball. So I definitely understand it a little bit, you know, where he coming from or what he's dealing with.
