Gary Payton and Nate Robinson will be on hand for a Pasco basketball camp next week

Gary Payton and Nate Robinson, on the court and on the same team, would be a dream come true for Northwest basketball fans.

For youth basketball players in the Mid-Columbia, they will get a chance to learn from the two NBA icons at Camp Un-Guardable next week at Pasco High School.

The three-day camp runs Monday-Wednesday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. each day. The camp is for boys and girls ages 6-14 and costs $225

The camp is under the direction of Elite Youth Camps. Registration is available at eliteyouthcamps.wixsite.com/shop/products.

Payton, 49, played at Oregon State University before a 17-year NBA career that saw him play from 1990-2003 with the Seattle SuperSonics. He also played for Milwaukee, the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston and Miami.

Payton was a nine-time NBA All-Star and won an NBA title with Miami in 2006. He retired the following season.

Robinson, 33, played for the University of Washington, and was the 21st overall pick of the 2005 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns. He later was traded to the New York Knicks. He also played for Boston, Oklahoma City, Golden State, Chicago and Denver.

Robinson currently plays for Guaros de Lara of the Venezuelan Liga Profesional de Baloncesto.

Tammy Robinson-Jackson (no relation to Nate Robinson), a 1978 Pasco graduate, has had a hand in bringing the camp to Pasco and will be there next week to make sure things run smoothly.

Robinson-Jackson, who now lives in the Seattle area, was on the Pasco girls basketball team — along with her twin sister Tovia and Quenna Beasley — that played for, and lost, the 1978 state championship game.

Part of the proceeds from the camp will benefit the Pasco High basketball programs and The Robinson Family Foundation, which “prides itself on uniting people with their purpose and developing them for success.”

Pasco holds a special place for the Robinson family. Virgie Robinson, who has a Pasco elementary school named after her, began her career in education in the 1960s as a truant officer in Pasco. She later was a community liaison coordinator.

“She just wanted you to go to school and get your education,” Tammy Robinson-Jackson said of her mom, who died in 2003.

In addition, Robinson-Jackson’s brother, Rickie Robinson, coordinates a golf tournament in the spring that benefits the Virgie Robinson Scholarship Fund.

This story was originally published August 8, 2017 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Gary Payton and Nate Robinson will be on hand for a Pasco basketball camp next week."