Gary Payton responds to Jordan laughing at him in 'The Last Dance'

Seattle SuperSonics legend Gary Payton says he understands why Michael Jordan laughed off his comments about their battles in "The Last Dance."

In the eighth episode of the documentary series, Payton explained how he didn't back down from Jordan during the 1996 NBA Finals and felt it "took a toll on Mike." Jordan laughed hysterically at Payton's claim, resulting in one of the more memorable moments from the documentary.

Payton was asked how it felt to see Jordan laugh at him in a Bleacher Report AMA, and said he would've had the same reaction.

"It's like this to me. He wouldn't be Michael Jordan if he would have bowed down there," Payton said. "Everybody knows about his competitiveness. He was a guy who came every night to play. I respect him for that because I came every night to play. I was never gonna back down to him, and he knew that.

"If it was my documentary and they asked me the same thing I would have laughed too and been like 'no he couldn't go at me neither.' Every night I played Michael Jordan he brought the best out of me. Wish I could have started off on him in the championship and it would have been better, but their team was better than mine at the time and they won it all. He did a documentary, he felt the way he felt. What I can do is I can say the same thing hahaha."

Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to a 4-2 series win over Payton's Sonics in the 1996 Finals to capture the franchise's fourth NBA championship.