Gary Payton is a hybrid from Cookies and Powerzzzup Genetics, named after the Hall of Fame point guard who starred for the Seattle SuperSonics. It started as phenotype #20 from a Y Life × Snowman seed hunt, and the number matched Payton's jersey.
Cookies launched it on July 11, 2019, as a joint venture with Powerzzzup. It later took home trophies in hash form, including a first place at the 2022 Errl Cup in Arizona.
Phenotype #20 and a Hall of Famer's name
Weedmaps credits breeder Kenny Powers with picking phenotype #20 from the Y Life × Snowman population. Cookies then worked with Payton himself to license the name, which lined up with the number he wore.
Leafly describes the strain as a collaboration between Cookies and Kenny Dumetz of Powerzzzup Genetics. It lists the parents as Snowman × The Y and records GPT as an alternate name.
The partnership had a public face beyond the breeders. In the launch release, Cookies founder Berner compared the strain to a Wheaties box for the cannabis world. Gary Vaynerchuk, a partner in Green Street, called it a first for an athlete of Payton's stature to have his own strain.
The 2019 launch in California and Michigan
The July 2019 announcement put Gary Payton in Cookies stores across California right away. The flagship shops on Melrose in Los Angeles, in Maywood and in Redding all carried it at launch, along with other Cookies retailers statewide.
Michigan followed in August 2019. At the time, the Cookies catalog covered indoor, outdoor and sungrown flower, pre-rolls, gel caps and vape cartridges.
The release billed Cookies as a California-based lifestyle and cannabis brand, and the wider rise of the company is told in how Berner turned one strain into a global cannabis empire. Gary Payton gave that retail network a strain built around a single, well-known name and number.
Cup results in hash and flower
Gary Payton has done well on the competition circuit. Leafly lists a first-place finish in hash form at the 2022 Errl Cup in Arizona and a second place at The Emerald Cup the same year. It also notes additional wins in Oklahoma and Oregon.
Lab numbers vary by grower. Leafly averages the strain at 22% THC and 1% CBG, with some batches testing as high as 31.67% THC. Weedmaps gives a broader range of 20–28%.
Leafly names caryophyllene as the dominant terpene, followed by limonene and linalool. Weedmaps tracks the flavor as diesel first, then blueberry and lemon.
Growing Gary Payton indoors
Weedmaps puts indoor flowering at 8–10 weeks. The plant grows to medium height with solid lateral branching and dense flower formation.
Weedmaps adds that early topping and low-stress training spread the canopy before the buds stack. It singles out airflow and humidity control late in bloom because the flowers pack so tight, and it notes that heavier branches can need support as the colas fill in.
The effect gets a split description. Leafly calls it even-keeled, blending energizing and relaxing qualities. Weedmaps describes a focused, euphoric head change first, with giggly and social moments before a heavier body feel settles in.