The Pac-12 unveiled its 2014-15 season honors Monday morning, and there’s a familiar (if not appropriate) name associated with one of the individual honors. Gary Payton II — not be confused with Gary Payton Jr. — lived up to his father’s legacy by being named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. The junior guard has done daddy proud at Oregon State University, where the elder Payton was a three-time All Pac-10 selection and consensus All-American in 1990.
As we all know, Payton went on to become one of the most ferocious defensive players in NBA history, reaching his apex in 1996 when he became the only true point guard in NBA history — and one of only a handful of perimeter defenders, period — to win Defensive Player of the Year honors. Payton II may not reach that level of success in the pros, but he’s definitely made his mark at the collegiate level, as he was also named to the All Pac-12 First Team.
[Pac-12]
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