Payton has plenty to say in his new role

It is the hot show among NBA players. At least that’s what Gary Payton’s text messages tell him.

The “NBA GameTime Live” show on Tuesday nights on the NBA TV channel features Payton talking trash, stats and sometimes even cooking with studio host Ahmad Rashad and, as Payton calls him, “the good cop, Chris Webber.”

“Of course,” Payton says, “I’m the bad cop.”

Payton’s chuckle crackles over the phone line. He is at home in Las Vegas, ready to catch a flight to Atlanta where he does the weekly show that is impossible not to compare to the popular TNT studio show “Inside The Game” that stars Charles Barkley in the Gary Payton role as free speaker, Kenny Smith as good cop and Ernie Johnson as facilitator.

“We want to make our own mark,” Payton said. “I was a broadcast major at Oregon State and I wanted the opportunity to do something like this, be me. They don’t give me any boundaries on how to approach things. I’m saying my opinions and that’s that. If it’s true, that’s what needs to be said. If it’s not true, I got guys texting me all the time. ‘Gary, that stat’s not true,’ ‘Gary, I shoot better than that.’ If I’m wrong, I correct it. That’s it. And I’m getting a lot of texts.”

As a player, Payton was pretty famous for running his mouth. “I talked then, I talk now,” he said. “Can’t help myself.”

And he caused an immediate stir when, last month on the show, he suggested that Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo was wearing an NBA championship ring for no good reason other than being four-leaf-clover lucky.

“I respect the man’s game,” Payton told the TV audience. “I’m just saying, man, he got put into a situation.”

Says Payton now: “People took that to mean I thought Rondo was just a towel-waver. That’s pretty much what I meant. But you gotta say, Rondo’s been playing a lot better lately. I heard he got mad but then he decided to get even.”

But it’s not only Payton who can get critical on the show. On Tuesday night, when Charlotte’s Raymond Felton missed a hurried jump shot late in the game, Webber said, “Felton, that’s not your shot. We just didn’t need that shot. It really looked like a, ‘I’m going to do this myself’ type of thing.’ ”

Payton started that laugh again. So maybe there’s more than one bad cop after all.

The former Seattle SuperSonics star said he does some self-editing.

“Some guys want to know the truth, some guys can take it, some can’t and I take that into consideration,” Payton said. “Guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, they’ll take bad criticism in a good way. If they disagree they’ll just go, ‘Gary, what he said is wrong,’ and then they’ll text me.

“Some of the young guys, I get hard on them because that’s the way I grew up, but they’re more, ‘Ooh, aah, Gary’s my idol’ kind of thing and all of a sudden I’m hearing them saying, ‘Why did Gary say that about me?’ So if I don’t know them so well, maybe I’ll watch what I say a little.”

One young guy who doesn’t have to worry is former USC star and Memphis Grizzlies rookie O.J. Mayo.

“I love O.J.,” Payton said. “He was ready for the NBA before he was ready. I love watching O.J. play.”

So Mayo doesn’t need to text Payton. Yet.

Where was UCLA?

On Wednesday, FSN Prime Ticket broadcast the Clippers-Bulls game followed by Loyola Marymount at UCLA.

But when the NBA game hit overtime, UCLA fans were stuck -- except those who could go to Fox Sports Pacific, where the Bruins game was on from the beginning. And for Dish Network subscribers who said the UCLA game was totally unavailable, Fox spokeswoman Whitney Garvens said that was a Dish Network issue.

Family reunion

ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” is featuring a multi-platform reunion of basketball star Julius Erving and his daughter Alexandra Stevenson, who became prominent at Wimbledon in 1999 when the 18-year-old qualifier pounded her way into the semifinals even as a newspaper was revealing she was Dr. J’s daughter after finding her birth certificate.

“Outside The Lines” will have the first on-air interview featuring father and daughter at 6 a.m. Sunday on ESPN (re-airing at 9 a.m. on ESPNEWS).

Good to watch, Friday

Highlight of the night, high school football state championships, Hamilton Union vs. St. Margaret’s at 4 and Concord De LaSalle against Corona Centennial at 8 p.m. on FSN Prime.

Good to watch, Saturday

Great college basketball day. Xavier plays Duke (11 a.m., Channel 2) followed by Connecticut at Gonzaga (1 p.m., Channel 2). That’s four potential Final Four teams.

And football: In high school play, Cardinal Newman vs. St. Bonaventure; St. Mary’s vs. Cathedral Catholic and Sacramento Grant versus Long Beach Poly all on Prime Ticket; and on the NFL Network, Dallas against Baltimore (this game matters).

Actually, you can watch the Cowboys all day Saturday on the NFL Network. Beginning at 3 a.m. PDT (yes, that’s the middle of the night), the network is planning 17 hours of Cowboys programming, including a rebroadcast of the 1995 NFC championship game against the Packers. Set your alarms!

Good to watch, Sunday

“Sunday Night Football” is a good one, Carolina and the New York Giants at 5:15 p.m. on Ch. 4. Lots of playoff implications.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com