You can see my quote saying "Payton maybe has one maybe two years left in his career" obviously I wouldn't say that about someone in their prime. I go on to list all Payton's records and achievements, all of his all star teams all of which were before 2001. Past prime, as everyone will tell you.
You're talking about Prime like it's some magical number that everybody shares. An athletes prime is when they're contributing at their absolute best and putting forth their best statistics in their said sport. If Gary Payton was still putting forth the same statistics and still contributing the same on the court in 2003 as he was in 1996 he was still in his Prime. He did just that. Was he at the end of his prime? Sure, was he still prime? Absolutely.
So let's compare - Payton at age 34 traded to the Bucs, at the twilight of his career signs a one year deal with the Lakers for a big pay cut, to 27 year old Durant, in his prime with the opposite to stay and make big money in OKC and going to the Warriors. Different situations entirely.
First thing wrong with this statement is you're comparing personal situations between two players and not the situations of the teams which is what the conversation is about.
The situation of the 2003 Lakers is they went from winning 3 rings in a row to getting bounced from the playoffs and not making it to the finals. The situation of the 2016 Warriors is they went from winning a ring to losing the next year. The Lakers signed players they felt would help them return to the NBA finals. The Warriors signed a player they felt would help them return to the NBA finals. The Lakers didn't sign Payton and Malone as some act of charity to get them rings lol they signed them because they were still elite players. Payton started all 82 games he played for the Lakers, the Lakers signed them to win rings. You think if they won Payton wouldn't have re-signed with the Lakers? Hell even Malone might have been lured out of retirement to stay.
Do you think this 4 man core of Steph/Klay/Draymond/Durant is some permanent dynasty that's going to be 10 years of domination? I think they have a solid 3 year window like that Lakers team would have had also if they won.
3 years from now I don't see more than 2 of the big 4 the Warriors now have playing together. They have a solid 3 year window and people are going to bounce, granted they can easily maintain greatness with 2 of the 4, but this current squad is definitely temporary to win some rings in this window, which is exactly what the Lakers were doing. Granted the Warriors situation is obviously better which all 4 being young (even though Steph's ankles will probably have him slowing down a lot sooner than he should), but overall the Lakers did exactly what the Warriors did, they brought on elite players for a run after losing.