The Orlando Magic’s
Payton, Hezonja take their unlikely friendship to All-Star Weekend
Elfrid Payton and Mario Hezonja share an unlikely friendship, and now they’re taking it all the way to the All-Star Weekend.
TORONTO — The friendship started almost by happenstance.
Mario Hezonja moved into the same building where Elfrid Payton lives. Since Hezonja didn’t have a car in Florida yet, Payton drove Hezonja to and from the Orlando Magic’s Amway Center practice facility.
“We kind of hit it off,” Payton said. “We were just together all the time, and I just took it upon myself to try to show him around Orlando. It just grew. He’s a great kid.”
Payton chuckled when he heard himself utter the phrase “great kid,” because Payton is only 21 years old and is only one year older than Hezonja. Still, Payton said he regards Hezonja as a younger brother.
Ever since the Magic drafted Hezonja fifth overall last June, Payton has helped ease Hezonja’s transition from living in Europe and playing in Spain’s top professional league to living in the United States and playing in the NBA. Meanwhile, Hezonja has won over Payton and the rest of the Magic roster with his confidence, playing ability and enthusiasm for learning about a different culture.
Payton might help Hezonja over the next few days, too. They will compete in the NBA’s annual Rising Stars Challenge, an exhibition game for rookies and second-
year players. It will be Payton’s second time participating in the event, and Payton should be able to show Hezonja around All-Star Weekend.
Payton and Hezonja will be pitted against each other. Payton will be teamed with players who grew up in the U.S., while Hezonja will be teamed with foreign-born players.
Their different backgrounds make Payton and Hezonja seem at first glance like opposites.
Payton grew up in the New Orleans area. Hezonja hails from Dubrovnik, Croatia.
A Southern twang occasionally tints Payton’s speech. A heavy Eastern European accent tinges Hezonja’s English.
Payton has one of the NBA’s most distinctive hairdos: so long and floppy on top that it looks as if it had been designed by famed Catalan modernist architect Antoni Gaudí. Hezonja’s haircut is short, straight and combed neatly.
In reality, though, those are just superficial differences.
On Nov. 2, Payton and Hezonja learned they had more in common than even they knew. It was an off day between Magic road games in Chicago and New Orleans, so Payton invited teammates over to his family’s home. Payton’s grandparents cooked some of the family’s favorite Louisiana foods, and Payton took Hezonja and their teammate Aaron Gordon on a walk around the neighborhood. Payton showed them the playground where he learned how to play basketball.
It reminded Hezonja of home.
And Payton’s family reminded Hezonja of his own family.
“The playground, the house, food — it’s kind of the same way of living,” Hezonja said.
In recent months, Payton was impressed by Hezonja’s interest in rap music — an interest fueled when Hezonja was teammates with American players in Spain. Hezonja was fascinated to see how much of a role music played in American players’ lives, especially before games, so he started listening, too.
One day in October, Payton was driving Hezonja when Payton seemed down.
When Hezonja asked Payton what the problem was, Payton responded that he had a hamstring injury that would prevent him from playing in some preseason games.
After a pause, Hezonja said, “Ninety-nine problems but a hamstring ain’t one.”
It was a reference to one of Jay-Z’s songs, “99 Problems.” Hezonja had changed the lyrics.
Payton burst out laughing, shocked that Hezonja had ever heard the song.
“He’s just got this confidence about himself,” Payton said. “He’s aware of what is going on around him. Most people who are from over- seas feel like they might not know as much about the culture here. But he’s pretty aware. He’s pretty aware of what’s going on. He’s got a lot of little witty jokes that are mad funny. He’s just got a confidence about himself. I guess that’s why everybody likes him so much.”
Magic players get a kick out of Hezonja’s and Payton’s friendship.
“It’s amazing,” guard Victor Oladipo said. “They’re definitely close. They’ve become good friends. I was close with Elfrid before Mario got here, so now I’m stuck in-between the two.
“Mario is just so openminded,” Oladipo added. “He’s so ready to learn so much. We’re starting to brainwash him a little bit, and he’s just starting to act like us more. So it’s pretty cool.”
The Hezonja-Payton friendship translates to the court, as it did Monday night in Atlanta.
The Magic were clinging to a one-point, fourth-quarter lead over the Atlanta Hawks when Payton passed Hezonja the ball, and Hezonja attempted to separate himself from a defender by pushing off with his left forearm. A referee whistled Hezonja for a foul, and Hezonja turned to the official to argue the call.
Payton defused the situation. He rushed over to Hezonja, told Hezonja to calm down and patted Hezonja on the back of his head. By interceding, Payton may have prevented a technical foul and may have saved the game for the Magic. Hezonja made key plays late in regulation, and the Magic won in overtime 117-110.
“We’ve got this crazy chemistry together,” Payton said. “He kind of knows what I’m thinking. I kind of know what he’s thinking.”