The Best Man Has One Job: Bring the Ring

It fits right in with Gary Payton’s career that his decision to come to Los Angeles is only the second-biggest story in Lakerland this week.

The organization and the city are in no mood to rejoice, not after the stunning news that Kobe Bryant was arrested in connection with a sexual assault complaint in Colorado.

That’s the way it always has been for Payton, who spent his college and pro career behind a curtain of raindrops in the Pacific Northwest. He’s the least-acclaimed great player of his time.

So if the circumstances prevent the popping of champagne, the least we can do is break out a pair of words that don’t get used often enough to describe Payton.

The best.

As in: the best free agent the Lakers had any realistic chance to acquire this summer.

At this moment, and with their limited financial options, point guard Payton was the top guy. And his agent says Payton will sign with them July 16.

No, he doesn’t address their primary need. Luring a power forward such as P.J. Brown or Juwan Howard with the mid-level exception would have been the best move if the Lakers’ main priority was finding someone to counter the Tim Duncans, Chris Webbers and Kevin Garnetts of the Western Conference.

But Mitch Kupchak went the aggressive route. Go get the best player and force the rest of the league to counter that.

Think about it in the abstract: Who’s the best, Payton, Brown or Howard?

Payton.

I’ll go one step further: Who’s better between Payton and the other high-profile point guard on the market, Jason Kidd?

Yep. It’s Payton again.

Kidd is a better rebounder and he led the league in assists. But as I watched New Jersey go corpse-cold in the fourth quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals -- with Kidd and Kenyon Martin taking most of the shots -- I thought there was no way Payton would let that happen.

If my team needed a basket I’d rather give the ball to Payton than Kidd.

Plus, I doubt you’d see Tony Parker run right around Payton the way he did around Kidd in the NBA Finals.

Payton, who was on the NBA’s All-Defensive first team for nine consecutive seasons, should shore up the Laker perimeter. That means no more point guards turning into max-contract guys at the Lakers’ expense every postseason.

Because Kidd is five years younger than Payton (35 on July 23), Kidd would be the better choice for a long-term contract. But the Lakers can’t think long-term anymore. Bryant can opt out of his contract next summer (and that’s assuming legal troubles do not take him out of play before that). Shaquille O’Neal’s body could break down under all that weight.

Their chance to win another championship is right now. And their chance gets a lot better with the addition of Payton.

He has averaged 18.3 points a game in his NBA career and has been good for at least 20 for most of the last nine years, including 20.4 last season.

When he isn’t scoring he can pass with the best of them -- and he’s never had teammates like Shaq and Kobe to pass to. He averaged 8.8 assists last season with the Seattle SuperSonics -- and that’s when he was passing to the likes of Rashard Lewis, Vladimir Radmonovic and Brent Barry -- and 7.3 after his trade to the Milwaukee Bucks.

But the best he ever finished in the most-valuable-player voting was third in 1998, behind Michael Jordan and Karl Malone.

If he had played in a larger market, or on a team that played into June more often, he would have generated the type of hype that nearly carried Kidd to the MVP award last year.

In a world free of salary-cap constraints, the ideal choice for the Lakers or the Spurs would have been Jermaine O’Neal. Put that athletic 6-11 frame on the same front line with O’Neal or Duncan and there would be zero layups for opponents. And the 24-year-old could fill that position for the rest of Shaq and Duncan’s careers.

But the collective bargaining agreement gives an edge to the home team, which means O’Neal can make at least $30 million more by staying with Indiana than he could anywhere else. That’s why it should come as no surprise that he canceled trips to San Antonio and Dallas and appears ready to re-sign with the Pacers.

So it appears the Lakers will settle for Karl Malone with their $1.4-million exception. For that money, they did just fine.

The real coup is getting Payton with the mid-level exception (which will be somewhere between $4.6 million and $4.9 million).

It helps that the Lakers are on the West Coast, where Payton spent all of his playing days until he was traded to Milwaukee on Feb. 20. Payton and his wife are from Oakland, he went to college at Oregon State and he spent the first 12 1/2 years of his NBA career in Seattle.

But primarily, this is about Payton’s quest to win a ring.

Payton’s heart has been here for a long time. He once attended a playoff game at Staples Center wearing a conspicuously shaded yellow T-shirt that he acknowledged was Laker gold. But I never thought he’d be willing to make the financial sacrifice it would take to get here.

He could have made more had he re-signed with Milwaukee. And there were sign-and-trade scenarios -- including a late run by Indiana -- that could have doubled the salary Payton would make with the Lakers next season.

He decided to come anyway, giving the mandate to his agent, Aaron Goodwin.

Plus, “Shaq came to me and said if I didn’t get [Payton] to L.A. he was going to break my neck,” Goodwin said. “I ain’t afraid of Shaq, though.”

It’s the rest of the league that should be afraid -- afraid of how good the Lakers will be with Payton.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com.