"They did that because they respected me" - Gary Payton's influence on the 2006 Heat played a huge part in their title-winning run

Gary Payton may have won a championship in the twilight years of his career but that doesn’t make the achievement less meaningful. In fact, Payton thinks that it was a unique experience to win the championship with the 2006 Miami Heat team because he played a different role compared to most of his other stops in his career.

“Even if I was the oldest member on the team, I was the captain and I could control everyone like Shaq, Wade like Alonzo Mourning. They listened to me because they saw me doing the same things when I was coming up,” Payton said during his visit to the Philippines for an NBA event, where Basketball Network was present.

Payton’s leadership role

In 2006, the Glove was already 37 years old and in his 16th season in the league. It also happened to be the year when he witnessed a significant decline in his minutes, which meant fewer stats racked up.

GP came off the bench for most of the season and was the primary backup of starting point guard Jason Williams, especially during the playoffs.

He started just 25 games and came off the bench in the postseason.

Still, that didn’t mean Payton was less impactful. He embraced a veteran role and excelled in it just as much as he did as franchise superstar early in his career. Payton said that he was the bridge between the Heat management and its players and was the one who often encouraged Shaquille O’Neal to lift Dwyane Wade as the team’s first option instead of competing with him.

“It was more of a joy for me to watch young D-Wade become super strong. Give him the reins to the Heat and ask Shaq to move over because he was in his aging years and they did that because they respected me,” Payton added.

Payton averaged 5.8 points, 1.6 assists and 1.7 rebounds during Miami’s title run in the playoffs. He played all 23 of their games, including Game 3 of the 2006 NBA Finals when he hit the game-winner to avoid letting his team fall into a 0-3 hole. That clutch shot by Payton ended up turning the series around as Miami gained momentum and won three straight games after Game 3.

Payton’s legacy with the Heat

Besides being the veteran leader of the 2006 Heat team, GP also believes he left his legacy in the organization by being one of the pioneers of Heat culture, which the organization is associated with to this day.

Riley may have wanted to incorporate it since he became the Heat’s president in 1995, but the Glove thinks that the former’s vision was only able to come to fruition when the latter and O’Neal arrived in 2005.

“We started all that championship going and all that and it tripled. Pat [Riley] got there in ’95; he didn’t win it until 2006, eleven years after. And he brought us all together which they thought we were problem childs and next thing you know, we put it together, all the 15 problem children won a championship. We started that; we started the Miami Heat winning championships,” Payton claimed.

Not every player is humble enough to accept where they are in their careers and accept a completely different role in the latter years of their career.

But that wasn’t the case for Payton, who did the opposite of that and in return, was awarded with a championship before he wrapped up his remarkable 17-year career.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 17, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

“They did that because they respected me” – Gary Payton’s influence on the 2006 Heat played a huge part in their title-winning run

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