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Gary Payton Lists His Top 5 Defensive Guards

There is no doubt that Gary Payton is one of the best defensive players in history. Payton is the only point guard that has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. On top of that, ‘The Glove’ was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team nine times, sharing the all-time NBA record with Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant.

Last night, Payton was part of Game Time on NBA TV and voiced his opinion on today’s best defensive guards, listing his current top 5! His list consists of Chris Paul, Patrick Beverley, Marcus Smart, Rajon Rondo, and rookie Lonzo Ball.

“I always go with the OG’s first. I’ll go with the OG’s. I’m gonna go with Chris Paul. Everybody really don’t understand that he’s not really an on-the-ball defender, but he’s almost like a Deion Sanders. He’s in everywhere. He’s getting interceptions, he’s getting his hands on the ball, he’s doing all that.”

“The guy that I think is the greatest on-the-ball player is Beverley. Beverley can be on the ball, he can hawk you and can do things. He wants to turn you and make it hard for you to do everything.”

“I think that in a couple of years, I think he can be a great basketball player. I think in the summer what he has to do is to go and work at his game, but on this end on defense he’s so long and he stays with you.”

Transcript via clutchpoints

Gary Payton shares his current top 5️⃣ defensive guards… 💪

Do you agree with The Glove's list? #GameTime pic.twitter.com/nX7HK4Y8Bd

— NBA TV (@NBATV) March 27, 2018

I generally don’t have a problem with this list, but also think that one name is missing. To me, Miami Heat’s Josh Richardson currently is the best defensive guard in the NBA. He needs to be on any list. I’d switch Rajon and Lonzo for Richardson and Gary Harris.