For years, Jason Hehir, the director of the iconic Last Dance, claimed his approach was unbiased. But just like Scottie Pippen, even Gary Payton is not buying that narrative. The Glove was one of Michael Jordan’s fiercest rivals and took exception to the claims and mockery from the Bulls legend in the docuseries.

In a notable clip from the 2020 documentary, MJ famously laughed out loud at Payton’s claim. It stems from the famous 1996 Finals, when the Bulls held a 3-0 advantage, and SuperSonics head coach George Karl then assigned Gary Payton to defend Michael Jordan.

MJ’s numbers dropped, but in Last Dance, he laughed at the suggestion and even stated, “The glove, I had no problem with the glove. I had no problem with Gary Payton. I had a lot of other things on my mind.” Responding to it, the former DPOY and Sonics legend set the record straight.

“It’s his documentary,” Payton said on Run It Back. “He can say whatever he wants to. But as we look at the numbers, he was averaging 30, and then he started averaging 23. So if he had no problems with me, I surely didn’t have any problems with him because he couldn’t guard me as well. We’re competitive, and he said what he said. That was his documentary, and that’s good, fine, whatever he wants.

“I wouldn’t even respect him if he didn’t say nothing less than that; I’m going to say the same thing. I’m not going to laugh because everybody know the outcome of that. And it was funny because if you look at the numbers, it did change after game three. So, I don’t have no problems with that.”

So Gary Payton’s claims that he could have shut Jordan down have some backing. When The Glove was Jordan’s primary defender, it was effective for the Sonics, and at least made Jordan work. Since he was also the DPOY, this battle was not surprising at all.

In the first three games without Payton as his primary defender, Jordan averaged 31 points on 46% shooting. Then the stats dropped for the worse.

As the Glove accepted the duty of guarding Michael Jordan, the average in the final three games dropped to 23.7 points on 36.7% shooting.

The Bulls still won the series 4-2, but the belief from Gary Payton that his defensive effort would have made a difference was not wrong. However, MJ dismissed it and even laughed at the mere suggestion.

Why GP now remains unbothered is because the stats don’t change despite the mocking from His Airness. It was the Bulls legend’s lowest Finals scoring average and his worst shooting percentage from the floor in the Finals.

In fact, it was also the only time in his career he was held under 30 points per game in any championship series.