Capítulo 1266: Chapter 401: This Team Is Hard to Beat

Gary Payton still couldn’t believe he actually made a deal with the Devil.

For the Championship Ring, he was about to team up with the person he despised the most.

No, with the two people he despised the most.

Dikembe Mutombo had also always been on Gary Payton’s blacklist, because the Denver Nuggets, led by Mount Mutombo, had upset the SuperSonics in 1994, which was one of the most humiliating moments of Payton’s career.

Gary Payton tried to think if there were any similar precedents, examples of two people dead set against each other voluntarily coming together to play on the same team and achieving success.

In the end, Payton found that there really were no such examples.

True, Scottie Pippen and Stevie Smith had also really disliked number 14 before teaming up with Roger, but they still won the championship together.

In fact, now that his personal relationship with Roger is pretty good, Paul Pierce was an unequivocal “anti-Roger” before joining the Hawks. He merely spoke some bad things about Roger, but that bastard Roger went out of his way to beat him up when Pierce was still a college student. Of course, Pierce couldn’t possibly like Roger.

Yet Roger similarly built a dynasty with Paul Pierce, and the two now have a pretty close personal relationship.

Paul Pierce in Shaq’s mouth as “century diarrhea” has become their fondest memory.

But their situation was totally different from Gary Payton’s; all the people mentioned above had one thing in common—they were forced to team up with Roger.

Scottie Pippen only found out Roger was coming after joining the Hawks, and Stevie Smith himself was already a Hawks player, so he had no choice.

Paul Pierce as a rookie similarly had no right to choose a team; the Atlanta Hawks picked him, so he could only report in Georgia, even if there was someone there he didn’t quite like.

Whereas Gary Payton was the first ever who not only disliked Roger but also voluntarily chose to team up with him.

Looking at the contract handed over by Bob Bass, Gary Payton hesitated, as if it was a deal handed by the Devil, and he was selling his soul.

There’s nothing much to say about this contract; maybe last season the New York Knicks would still offer Gary Payton a mid-level exception, but now, the Warriors only offered him a veteran minimum salary.

Now the Gloves were only worth this much.

Mikhail Prokhorov perhaps had a lot of money, but he wasn’t a philanthropist; he wouldn’t recklessly offer max contracts to all players just to poach talent.

And Bob Bass was straight to the point: “In the Bay Area, I’m afraid you won’t be in the starting lineup.”

Gary Payton had anticipated this, as he couldn’t possibly compete for a starting spot with any Warriors player.

Gary Payton had always been proud and arrogant. Even by 2020, he would still boast shamelessly in the “Last Dance” documentary claiming he had stopped Michael Jordan, leading to Jordan’s most famous meme.

And being a substitute would undoubtedly mean abandoning what he valued most—his self-esteem.

In San Antonio and New York, no matter how low his tactical status, he was always a starter.

On the surface, he was still seen as a main player on a champion team.

But now, when he could only fall to the role of a substitute, it meant truly saying goodbye to the “Star Player” status.

He felt like a young girl working in a Thai spa as a therapist, initially just providing normal service but gradually losing her bottom line.

However, since Gary Payton decided to come, it showed he had already considered everything.

The Gloves picked up the pen and signed his name on the contract.

This guy, who used to face Michael Jordan and Roger head-on, had now also become the King’s servant.

He only hoped this choice wouldn’t make him regret it, though he had become a truly significant role player. If he could win the championship, then everything would be worth it.

But if he couldn’t, his career would be completely ruined.

After signing, Gary Payton immediately asked Bob Bass, “Where is that bastard Roger? Is he secretly training somewhere? Many years ago, I heard the legend of the ‘Dawn Club.’ Tell me where he is, I want to train with him!”

Bob Bass smiled like a news host at half-past seven every night while tidying up the materials on the table, “Dawn? It’s almost dusk now.”

In the next two minutes, Bob Bass made Gary Payton incredulously understand one thing—Roger hadn’t undergone self-destructive high-intensity training during the offseason for many years.

He indeed would invite a few good friends to form a personal training camp before the new season’s training camp began, but the training intensity wasn’t as great as rumored.

Roger’s high-intensity training mainly focused during the Orlando and early Atlanta periods.

During the Bay Area period, Roger had long stopped doing this.

Upon receiving this news, Gary Payton became even more withdrawn; his excuses were ruthlessly exposed.

Some people always find excuses for their failures.

Some people like to find excuses for the other’s success.

Gary Payton belonged to the latter, always believing Roger completely sacrificed a normal life for victory.

He wouldn’t spend time enjoying gourmet food, wouldn’t spend time watching movies, wouldn’t spend time gathering with his buddies, wouldn’t spend time doing anything interesting. Besides changing girlfriend after girlfriend, his time was basically filled with basketball.