FILE – In this Sept. 8, 2013, file photo, inductee Gary Payton, left, speaks during the enshrinement ceremony for the 2013 class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as Hall-of-Famer John Stockton, right, looks on at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Mass. Payton told Sports Illustrated on May 19, 2016, that he doesn’t think Golden State’s Stephen Curry should have been the NBA’s first unanimous MVP. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
NEW YORK — Consider Gary Payton unimpressed by Golden State guard Stephen Curry becoming the first unanimous MVP in NBA history.
The hall of famer tells Sports Illustrated that the vote just “happened to go” Curry’s way. He says players like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar also could have been considered unanimous picks even though the vote didn’t go that way.
READ: Stephen Curry first-ever unanimous choice for NBA MVP
Payton is also critical of Curry’s Warriors teammate Draymond Green. Payton, a defensive specialist who was known as “The Glove,” tells Sirius XM’s NBA Radio that while Green is also a great defender, he cries “all the time” to referees over calls. That’s something Payton says he would never do.
Payton was known as one of the NBA’s all-time great trash talkers during his 18-season career.