Gary Payton is responding to a viral moment from "The Last Dance." Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Gary Payton on Michael Jordan: 'He couldn't guard me either'

Originally posted on Game 7 | By Jennifer Withers Hoey | Last updated 6/17/21

Michael Jordan’s "The Last Dance" documentary served as a refuge for sports fans in a COVID-afflicted sports desert last year. The in-depth look at Jordan’s life and career provided an interesting window in the mind of arguably the greatest athlete of all time.

One of the standout moments from the documentary came when Jordan spoke of his Chicago Bulls’ matchups against the Seattle SuperSonics — and more specifically his one-on-one battles with Gary Payton.

“The Glove? I had no problems with the glove,” Jordan dismissively laughed during the documentary.

This past Wednesday, Payton appeared on "The Colin Cowherd Podcast" and offered a fairly blunt reaction to Jordan’s words.

“He couldn’t guard me either!” — @GaryPayton

The 9-time NBA All-Star told @ColinCowherd how he felt being the target of Michael Jordan’s now-famous “Last Dance” meme pic.twitter.com/F4OY617f3p

— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) June 16, 2021

Payton said:

“If he didn’t say that, I wouldn’t respect it. I wouldn’t even look at him anymore, because he’s a competitor like me. I looked forward to guarding him. He laughed. I would’ve laughed at the same thing because I don’t think he could guard me. So if he would’ve did that I would’ve been like, ‘Ha… please.’”

This isn’t the first time Payton has spoken out about Jordan’s dismissiveness of him.

"The Last Dance" led to a lot of interesting fallout, including Scottie Pippen’s anger regarding how he was portrayed. Overall, "The Last Dance" was an impactful documentary, and nothing reaffirms that more than the fact that we’re still talking about it all this time later.

This article first appeared on Game 7 and was syndicated with permission.

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