On his way to becoming basketball’s version of George Foreman, NBA Hall of Famer Gary Payton named two of his sons after himself. To make things even crazier, Gary Payton Jr. and Gary Payton II are just five months apart.
In his interview with DJ Vlad, The Glove recounted what happened when he got two women pregnant around the same time.
“In this clip, Gary Payton talked about his “George Foreman” moment whereby he named his two oldest sons after him – Gary Jr. and Gary II. He recounted the love triangle he found himself entangled during the time his sons were conceived by two different women. However, Gary said he’s used that experience as a lesson for his children on how not to handle their romantic situations.”
Payton continued:
“When I was dating Garry II’s mom who I met in high school, and I got into the NBA and I had a relationship with another lady. It so happened that they both had their kids in the same year.”
“They both wanted to name them Gary,” GP continued. “So I said, ‘okay, cool. You can name one Gary Jr., one Gary II.’ It was one of them things that worked out for me; I’m happy for that. I’ve got two sons named after me, we can keep my name going on, so that’s all that I was talking about. Just keep my name going on.”
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It was a crazy situation to be in, but three decades later, the Hall of Famer can do nothing but laugh thinking about those conversations with two different women who were both pregnant with his child.
“Very messed up,” Payton said. “It’s very messed up. And that’s why, after that, I never messed up again with anything like that because it’s not fair to them. And I told my ex-wife during the speech in the Hall of Fame that she stuck through a lot of stuff with me. “
Gary Payton II followed his father’s steps and is in the middle of his career year with the Golden State Warriors.
He is currently averaging 7.3 points and 3.6 rebounds on 62.3% from the field. Unlike his brother, Gary Payton Jr. made the decision to stay away from the public eye.
