Gary Payton may be a former member of the Miami Heat, but he doesn’t believe LeBron James will be going back to South Beach.
Payton won a championship as a member of the Heat during the 2005-06 season, teaming up with James’ former teammate and longtime best friend Dwyane Wade. While the Heat are one of the three most popular destinations mentioned for James, he believes its the Golden State Warriors — not the Heat or Cleveland Cavaliers — that will be James’ choice.
He not only believes the Warriors will be James’ choice, Payton believes Golden State immediately jumps to the top of the Western Conference with the four-time MVP in the fold.
“If Golden State gets LeBron, I have to move them in one and two with Oklahoma [City],” said Payton in a one-on-one interview with Heavy Sports. “I would have to do it. If Oklahoma City comes and gets back right, gets back healthy, that’s going to be a problem. The two teams will be a problem in the West.”
If the Warriors were to sign James, there’s little doubt they’d have the most accomplished roster in the league. Steph Curry is the greatest shooter of all time and has won four championships, while Draymond Green has been there since the beginning of the Warriors’ championship years. Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler has proven he can lead a franchise as the lead guy, previously leading the Heat to two NBA Finals appearances. That’s not even adding in Kristaps Porzingis, who has previously won a championship as the starting center for the Boston Celtics.
When asked if they can beat the top of the Western Conference — the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs — with a healthy core four of James, Curry, Butler and Green, Payton said “absolutely.”
“Absolutely, I think they will be,” said Payton on if the Warriors will be healthy. “They can beat anybody if they’re healthy. If they got them four guys on the floor (Curry, James, Green, Butler), they will beat anybody. I’m guaranteeing that.”
A lot obviously hinges on the health of those four guys. All four of them will be at least 37 years old by the end of this season and Butler is coming off of a serious ACL tear. Curry has dealt with nagging injuries in recent seasons, missing 39 games last year. It was a major reason — combined with Butler’s injury — for why the Warriors missed the playoffs with a 37-45 record.
Mario Chalmers Predicts LeBron James to Warriors
Payton isn’t the only former Heat player that believes James will go to the Warriors. Mario Chalmers — who teamed with James to lead the Heat to two championships — also believes that’s the case.
“Oh definitely it would be the ideal landing spot,” said Chalmers in a one-on-one interview. “I really think it’s between Golden State and Miami just by knowing Bron and being his teammate before and the way he approaches the game. Those are the two spots where I think he has the best chance of winning. I give him two to three more years, and I want to say Miami, but I have a gut feeling that it might be Golden State.”
We’ll see where James ultimately signs to spend the remainder of his NBA career, but he certainly has the basketball universe waiting at the palm of his hands.
Gary Payton Making Impact as Entrepreneur in Post-Playing Career
While Payton will be paying close attention to where James lands, the Hall of Fame point guard is making his mark off the court as an entrepreneur in the cannabis industry. The 57-year-old is releasing his own line of organic hemp rolling papers with RAW. It is the first time Payton is partnering with them and he refers to it as a long-term collaboration.
Payton began making waves in the cannabis industry in 2019 and first became involved in it due to his mother, who dealt with cancer and began using gummies to help her during her battle.
The former NBA Defensive Player of the Year said he’s a bigger name in his post-basketball career than when he was a star during his 17 seasons in the league (1990-2007).
“Yes, I would, I would say that very much,” said Payton. “Because what people say now, they say, ‘Gary, I think you’re more popular than when you were playing basketball,’ and that is really true. I think that’s coming from my cannabis business. We’re about to launch an alcohol line pretty soon, the 20, and I think that’s going to come through there, and we’re going to do a lot of more stuff through a lot of people through the cannabis business. I think yes, this cannabis has made me become somebody bigger than my basketball career in this industry.”
When asked about his long-term objective in the industry, Payton said it’s to continuing to “build” it. He said he envisions himself still in the industry a decade from now.
“I think I just got to build it, I got to keep building,” said Payton. “What people understand is they know that I don’t smoke, I’m about wellness. I’m an athlete that played 17 years in basketball, and I never got injured, but we have a lot of people that are really ailing right now about things that they can’t get up, they can’t do that. We’re trying to get creams, we’re trying to get sprays, we’re trying to get balms, we’re trying to do everything that can help a person be able to feel good, and that’s one of the things that I’m trying. My outlook on this, it’s to the roof. I don’t think I’m ever going to try to stop. I think I’m gonna go every year and gotta try to get bigger and bigger. I don’t think this will ever go anywhere, and so I’m going to try to make something better every year in this industry.”
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