Payton II Chosen To Nike Basketball Academy
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State rising senior men’s basketball player Gary Payton II was identified as one of the top 20 college basketball players in the country and invited to participate in the inaugural Nike Basketball Academy.
The Nike Basketball Academy will bring together the top NBA talent of today and past all-time greats. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and many more will be there to help the invited participants improve their game. It will be held June 26-30 at the Santa Monica Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif.
“This is a good opportunity to go against the best players in the country and get better,” Payton II said. “It’s big time to learn from the best players in the NBA and watch how they play. It’s also a great opportunity to showcase Oregon State basketball.
“It will be a phenomenal experience and really help to carry on to next season at Oregon State. If I have a chance to play at the next level after next season, it will be good to show people what I can do.”
Payton II earned numerous awards last season after transferring to Oregon State from Salt Lake Community College. He was voted the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, named to the All-Pac-12 First Team and All-Defensive Team, and selected to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-District-IX and National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division I All-District 20 Teams.
He became just the second player in Oregon State history to lead the team in scoring, rebounding and steals (Lester Connor, 1981-82), and had a steal in all 31 games, the second-longest streak in school history, trailing only his father, the legendary Gary Payton, who had a steal in 37 consecutive games from February1989 to March1990.
Payton II finished the season with 95 steals, tied for the third most in Pac-12 single-season history, the second most in Oregon State single-season history and the most by a junior in school history. He finished second in the nation in steals at 3.06 per game (Corey Walden, Eastern Kentucky, 3.09).
The lefty guard also had seven double-doubles and posted just the second triple-double in school history with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists against Grambling State. His father recorded the only other triple-double on Nov. 26, 1988 when he had 20 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists against Portland at Gill Coliseum.
