The Los Angeles Lakers already have the son of LeBron James on their roster, and now they could also be adding the son of Gary Payton.
Free agent guard Gary Payton II is “very much” on the Lakers’ radar, Anthony Irwin of ClutchPoints reported on Thursday. Irwin notes that Payton II recently signed with agent Bill Duffy, who also represents Lakers star Luka Doncic (as well as Lakers centers Deandre Ayton and Jaxson Hayes).
Payton II, 32, remains an unrestricted free agent after averaging 6.5 points and 3.0 rebounds in 15.0 minutes per game off the bench for the Golden State Warriors last season. He is not expected to return to the Warriors this offseason and would make sense for the Lakers as a very versatile perimeter defender amid the loss of Dorian Finney-Smith to a West rival in free agency this offseason.
The family ties are also there for Payton II. His father, the nine-time NBA All-Star and former Defensive Player of the Year, is a former Laker. The elder Payton played for the team in the 2003-04 season, making it to the NBA Finals with Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Karl Malone but losing in five games to the Detroit Pistons.
On top of that, Payton II himself had a brief stint with the Lakers early on in his NBA career. He was on a two-way contract with the Lakers in 2018, shuttling back and forth between the NBA roster and their G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers (also returning for a second stint with South Bay in 2019).
Though he won a championship with the Warriors in 2022, there is also a strong argument against signing Payton, who has limited upside and could take away minutes from younger players that the Lakers want to develop. If they do decide to bring in “The Mitten” though, the Lakers would have three sons of former NBA stars on their roster (along with Bronny James and the son of a Hall of Famer that the Lakers just signed last month).
