Gary Payton came close to leaving the NBA after a frustrating rookie season under K.C. Jones with the Seattle SuperSonics.

Payton was the No. 2 overall pick in the previous draft and played just 27.4 minutes per game as a rookie.

Payton was convinced by his father and agent Aaron Goodwin to return to the Sonics instead of leaving the game or forcing a trade. Jones was fired 36 games into the next season and replaced by George Karl and assistant coach Tim Grgurich.

“If we wouldn’t have changed coaches,” Payton said, “I would have probably said, ‘Yo, you know what? I want to end this. I don’t want to do this anymore because I’m not happy.’ If they would have stayed with the same coach, I would have probably just shut it down. They would have tried to trade me or I would have told them I don’t want to play there anymore.

“I went to my agent, I went to my father, I just said, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m good enough to play in this league. I’ve got a coach who wants to play me in the first and the third quarter. He has no confidence in me.’ They told me the same thing. ‘You’ve got to stick it out. You’ve got to be the guy who you’re supposed to be. You’re tough. You’re this.’ My father was like, ‘Are you crazy? If you quit, I’m gonna get in your (body).’ Stuff like that. He’s like, ‘It’s going to be better. You’ve got to dedicate yourself to it.’ As soon as coach Grg came there, I changed my whole mentality. I went back to the guy that I was at Oregon State and the guy that I was in Oakland.”

Payton retired after the 2006-07 season.