Gary Payton lounged in his chair and popped a potato chip into his mouth as a scene of All-Star bedlam unfolded some 50m to his left Friday.
Payton didn't even notice the media horde trying to squeeze around Yao Ming at a circular table built to accommodate eight.
Payton, of course, has already seen it all.
Almost all, anyway.
Making his ninth All-Star appearance, the only thing making this year different for Payton is the distinct possibility that he could be wearing a different uniform in the not-too-distant future. In the final year of his contract with the Seattle SuperSonics, Payton will be a free agent at the end of the summer.
And with the Feb. 20 NBA trading deadline approaching, it's open season for speculation on whether the Sonics will trade their best player, a lifer who has worn nothing but green and gold for 13 seasons.
"I can't predict that right now, so I'm not going to talk about it," Payton said. "We're not doing well, and I'm trying to make the team better. So until something comes up and occurs, I can't worry about it."
Payton tried to duck and dodge every question related to his future in Seattle and his endlessly analyzed relationship with Sonics owner Howard Schultz, but otherwise he was quite talkative for someone so prone to shy away from extended conversations with the media.
Payton weighed in on Jason Kidd's future and whether he'll leave New Jersey to sign with San Antonio over the summer, along with Vin Baker's return to Seattle next Tuesday night. Payton spoke glowingly of the strong team fundamentals that the influx of foreign players are bringing to the NBA. He recalled playing in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics and reflected on the changes he has seen since he entered the league in 1990 as the No. 2 overall pick out of Oregon State.
"Me and Shaq are the only two guys left off that Dream Team," Payton noted of this year's 24 All-Stars, 19 of whom are not yet 30. "The ages are changing."
Sunday's All-Star game, which tips off around 8:30pm eastern time in the US, figures to be the most watched version of the event ever.
The Nielsen ratings in the UW might not be the highest in All-Star history, but there are more than 1 billion reasons why those ratings are insignificant in this case.
Outside of America, it will be broadcast in 41 languages to 212 nations and territories around the world -- including 287 million households in China.
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