Gary Payton II

Gary Payton II is a professional basketball player who currently plays in the NBA for the Washington Wizards. He was born on December 1, 1991, in Seattle, Washington. His father is former NBA All-Star Gary Payton and his mother is Monique James. Payton II attended high school at Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma and went on to attend Oregon State University.

Payton II started his college career with Oregon State Beavers where he played four seasons of college basketball under coach Craig Robinson. During his freshman year, he averaged 10 points per game while playing an average of 28 minutes per game at shooting guard position. As a sophomore he increased his scoring and improved as a defender averaging 11 points per game along with 4 rebounds per game and 2 steals each night out. This earned him an honorable mention for the Pac-12 All Defensive Team during that season. His junior year saw him become one of the better guards in all of college basketball as he averaged 16 points and 5 rebounds while leading Oregon State to their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance since 1990 during that season where they made it all the way to the second round before being knocked out by Oklahoma State Cowboys team featuring future teammate Marcus Smart .

In 2016 after going undrafted in that year’s Draft class; Gary Payton II accepted an invitation from Los Angeles Lakers to join their training camp roster as part of their pre-season preparations ahead of regular season tip off; however he was later released before beginning regular season play only making appearances through Summer League circuit which ended after Pelicans eliminated them from postseason contention early July 2016 ending Payton’s run with Lakers organization short lived . After leaving LA ,Payton signed multiple 10 day contracts with Milwaukee Bucks finding himself called up from D League affiliate Wisconsin Herd multiple times between December 2017 – January 2018 finally signing rest contract and staying within Bucks organization until June 2018 when non guaranteed deals were not renewed for upcoming campaign . Following this stint ,payton then joined reigning Eastern Conference Champions Cleveland Cavaliers spending time bouncing back forth between parent club main roster Cavaliers G league affiliate Canton Charge over course next two seasons before eventually securing spot Agua Caliente Clippers squad competing Pacific Division 2019/20 campaign whose success spearheaded move onto Washington Wizards 2020/21 pre season roster taking place thus far into 2021 calendar year

With Washington ,Payton looks forward to continuing development both offensively defensively while leveraging veteran leadership experience acquired across previous three organizations ultimately looking carve path into NBA rotation long term career aspirations set years ago stemming back days NW prep star athlete hometown Seattle wa