Today, July 23rd is the 49th birthday of former Boston Celtic guard Gary Payton.
Payton, who joined the team in the twilight of his career after being traded along with Rick Fox to the Celtics for Chris Mihm, Jumaine Jones and Chucky Atkins from the Los Angeles Lakers, was not at first happy about having been traded to Boston. He would report to camp eventually, however, and played well for the team before being traded to the Atlanta Hawks by the Celtics with with Tom Gugliotta, Michael Stewart and a 2006 first-round pick (used to draft Rajon Rondo) in exchange for Antoine Walker's return to the team.