Boston Celtics: 3 players you forgot played for the C’s in the 2000’s & 2010’s

Gary Payton, PG (2004-05 Season)

Next up on our list we have one of the most menacing presences to ever grace the backcourts of the NBA, Gary Payton. The Hall of Fame point guard, best known for his time as a Seattle Supersonic (1990-2003), spent his remaining five years in the league bouncing around from team to team.

The C’s were one of his destinations along the way.

After posting solid averages of 14.6 points, 5.5 assists, 4.2 boards and 1.2 steals per game on 47 percent shooting from the field with the Los Angeles Lakers during the season prior, Boston traded for his services during the 2004 offseason to fill in as the team’s starting point guard.

Despite being displeased with the deal, Payton did end up reporting to the team and began the season as the team’s starting one guard. However, on February 24th, 2005, Payton was packaged in a deal that sent him to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for former Celtics Antoine Walker.

The Hawks would wind up waiving the, then, 36 year old and, in an odd turn of event, made his way back to Boston as a free agent.

The former perennial All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year (1996) made 77 total starts with the franchise and boasted averages of 11.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game on 47 percent shooting from the floor.

The shamrocks would go on to attain that season’s Atlantic Division title, only to be bounced in the first round by the Indiana Pacers.

That offseason he became an unrestricted free agent, only to sign with the Miami Heat and wound up winning his first and only championship.

Of all the teams Gary “The Glove” Payton suited up for during his illustrious seventeen-year career, the most forgettable of them… well, it would probably be the 34 total games he played with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2002-03.

… still, we don’t blame you at all if you don’t remember his one season with the C’s.