Payton, Gary - 1990

From OSU Wiki

Gary was the Sports Illustrated College Basketball Player of the Year and Pac-10 player of the year in 1990. He also won a gold medal in the 1996 olympics as a member of Dream Team III, also in 2000. 7-time NBA all-star among other NBA honors. Currently playing with the Miami Heat.

Gary Payton is arguably the best OSU basketball player of all time. Drafted by the Seattle Supersonics in 1990, Payton was not expected to be the star that he was. He spent his first 13 seasons there with the Sonics, which is the team he is expected to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for. Payton led his team to the playoffs in almost every year, alongside star power forward Shawn Kemp. In 1996, he carried them all the way to the finals, only to be shut down by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Since that time, Payton’s career has gone slightly downhill. It has still been nothing short of impressive, however. He made it back to the finals for a second try in 2004 with the Los Angeles Lakers in more of a limited role, but again came up short against the Detroit Pistons. The following season, he was traded to the Boston Celtics, where he helped turn around a franchise that was very much in a chaotic state. He is currently with the Miami Heat, in which he won a ring during the Heat's historic championship run in 2006. For the 2006-2007 season, Payton re-signed with the Heat hoping to defend their title.