Gary Payton can relate to Damian Lillard Miami Heat desires

MIAMI — The story of a long-time NBA veteran point guard out of Oakland seeking an NBA championship with the Miami Heat while on the back end of his career in his 30s is not unique to Damian Lillard.

It is a story, in fact, previously written.

By Gary Payton,

In 2006.

Payton, now a coach with the halfcourt Big3 circuit, was back in Miami on Sunday as part of the league’s tour, working the officials at Kaseya Center with the same vigor seen before and during that 2005-06 championship season with the Heat.

And, yes, as is the case with Lillard, Payton is all in on Lillard’s desire to relocate to South Florida.

“It is the same thing as it is with me,” Payton said after coaching his team Sunday. “Dame’s father grew up with me in Oakland. We all have the same mentality. And I have the same agent as Dame. Dame would be a great fit here. He knows it, and I know it.”

As for the comparisons to Lillard, they are undeniable.

Payton devoted the first 12-plus seasons of his career to a single Pacific Northwest franchise, in his case the Seattle SuperSonics, before moving on. Lillard is seeking relocation after 11 seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Like Lillard, who has taken issue with the Blazers’ turn toward youth amid his win-now aspirations, Payton also somewhat forced his way out with the Sonics, failing to report for the first day of training camp in advance of his trade that season to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Payton joined the Heat at 37; Lillard is seeking to join the Heat at 33.

Payton was a nine-time All-Star before his first, and only, NBA championship with the Heat; Lillard is a seven-time All-Star.

And to the notion of Lillard ring chasing by seeking to join Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo to score a championship with a team already in win-now mode, Payton first joined the championship Los Angeles Lakers of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant along with Karl Malone in 2003, before then joining O’Neal and Dwyane Wade with the Heat in the 2005 offseason.

The prime difference was Payton was The Glove, known for his lockdown defense; Lillard, even at this advanced stage, is coming off a season he averaged a career-high 32.2 points.

Still, Payton said Sunday he appreciates both where Lillard is coming from, and, as significantly, where he wants to go.

“Dame,” Payton said, “had to make the decision: Do I want to keep doing what I do, or do I want to try to win a championship? And that’s what he wants to do now. It is just time, time for him to make a move to where he wants to go.”

Payton played under Pat Riley as his Heat coach; Riley now is functioning solely as Heat president. Erik Spoelstra was in the team’s video department when Payton played for the Heat; Spoelstra now is coach. Payton played alongside Dwyane Wade; Wade then recruited current Heat leading man Jimmy Butler.