As the first-round playoff series between the Seattle SuperSonics and San Antonio Spurs unfolds, one of the most intriguing matchups in the game is at point guard, where the trash-talking rookie Frenchman, Tony Parker, has been taking on the genteel veteran, Gary Payton.

That they are guarding each other is not as interesting as the fact that they very well could have been guarding each other on opposite sides of the fence.

You see, this past summer, the Sonics were not exactly certain where their stormy relationship with Payton was going -- if he wanted to stay, if they wanted him to stay, if he was willing to tone down an image that had sullied an organization with his well-known and oft-documented histrionics.

And when new Sonics owner Howard Schultz and his merry band of coffee cohorts saw Parker work out on particular summer day, they fell in love with him as quickly as if he was a French maid in their hotel room who looks like Brigitte Bardot. Ooo la la!

Never mind that Schultz had about as much experience in judging NBA talent as he does in consuming Folgers. He wanted Parker. And so an offer was made to the Spurs that would have sent Payton to the Alamo in exchange for Parker, Malik Rose and Antonio Daniels.

From most accounts, the Spurs turned it down because it would have upended too much of the young portion of their roster -- and both teams are fairly pleased that the Spurs made that decision, though get back to the Sonics in a few years when Payton is gone. Their answer might be altogether different.

In any case, had the trade gone through, the teams likely would not be facing each other Saturday in Game 3 because an already young Sonics team, with a 19-year-old point guard in Payton's stead, likely would be gathering at Kumbaya serenades with the Golden State Warriors rather than competing in the NBA postseason.

But they are facing each other, and, miraculously, we are actually analyzing how a teenager from another country is actually staying with a eight-time All-Star from Oakland and one of the game's finest players.

It comes as something of a surprise that they are in fact guarding one another, because during the regular season, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had Bruce Bowen try to control Payton while Parker would guard Brent Barry. But through the first two games of this series -- tied at one game apiece -- Bowen has harassed Barry (as well as everyone else on the floor, given the Sonics' assortment of gashed foreheads, cut lips and bloodied noses), while the quicker Parker has matched up with Payton.

Not that Payton no longer can defend, but he has had difficulty with quick point guards for years now. When Hersey Hawkins used to play for Seattle, Payton would always slide Hawk over to Allen Iverson or Stephon Marbury and take on the, well, lesser assignment.

Now, Sonics coach Nate McMillan automatically puts Barry on quicker guards because he feels like Barry gets into the game more quickly if he has to concentrate on defense. But in this series, it's PG vs PG and SG vs. SG, and surprisingly, through two games, San Antonio's backcourt has come out glimmering somewhat more brightly.

Part of Seattle's game plan is to double-team Duncan at different times, and the Spurs player they want to shoot the ball most often is Parker, a 42-percent shooter during the regular season, 32 percent from 3-point range.

Only, here's what happened in the teams' last meeting of the regular season on April 3 when Seattle employed that strategy: Parker missed his first five shots of the game. Then, with two seconds left in a tight game, Parker took a pass from Duncan and knocked down a 20-footer. Spurs win, 90-88.

"If there was a guy who you wanted to shoot the ball tonight, it was Tony Parker," Sonics coach Nate McMillan said at the time. "Those are the breaks. You win some and you lose some like that."

Turns out, McMillan lost another one like that. In Game 1, leaving Parker open all game, Parker french-fried the Sonics with 21 points on 9-for-12 shooting, while Payton stayed on the bench the entire fourth quarter of the blowout.

	“	He won't hit that much every game. Doesn't mean we're going to change our game plan. ”
		— Gary Payton on Tony Parker

And you know what Payton said after the game? "He won't hit that much every game. Doesn't mean we're going to change our game plan."

So let's get this straight: The Sonics don't think Parker can shoot straight.

Maybe it's the accent.

Turns out, Payton was right. In Game 2, they left Parker open, and he made just 4 of 11 shots, missing a wide-open 3-pointer in the fourth quarter that allowed the Sonics to steal the game at the Alamodome.

Payton, meanwhile, had been chided by his father, Al (aka Mr. Mean), for playing lackadaisically in Game 1 and being upstaged by Parker. And so, he said he took Game 2 more personally. Not that anyone would have known it after the first quarter, when he missed his first seven shots. But thereafter, he abused the Spurs, spinning around Parker, hitting a last-second jumper in Daniels' face, laying a scoop shot off the glass en route to 22 points and a Sonics win -- which now gives them homecourt advantage against a Spurs team without David Robinson.

And so, the back and forth continues, with Payton trying to school Parker, who looks like he needs very little schooling indeed.

Think about this: Parker is the same age as Washington's Kwame Brown, and Brown seems like he had trouble finding the MCI Center this season, much less a significant role in a postseason series.

No matter what the outcome of this series, it's been a joy to watch the point guards, whose careers came so close to being forever intertwined.

Frank Hughes, who covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.