Elfrid Payton – 19 starts
Following Brandon Knight‘s torn ACL injury during a mid-summer pick-up game, General Manager Ryan McDonough pulled off a tremendous trade, one that proved to be doubly valuable for the franchise.
McDonough acquired shooting guard Troy Daniels and a second round pick from the Memphis Grizzlies for…well, that’s the thing. He traded away absolutely nothing.
Then when things started really going south in the backcourt, he used that second round pick to acquire former lottery pick Elfrid Payton from the Orlando Magic in February.
Payton’s first nine games were nothing short of, well, magic.
Averaging 16.4p/8.0r/8.2a/1.1s/0.4b and shooting 47.9% from the field, Payton also recorded two triple-doubles (his first, the fastest in franchise history) and missed out on a third by only 2 assists.
To many fans it looked like the Suns had pulled off the steal of the century and many wondered if only a change of scenery was enough to make Payton the point guard that the Magic thought they were acquiring when they traded into the top-10 to acquire him in 2014.
And then the wheels fell off.
Like Canaan, James, and even Ulis before him, each that at times seemed to set the world on fire for a few games before reverting back to their non-impressive selves, Payton’s final 10 games were anything but spectacular.
In fact, they were laughably awful.
Averaging 7.6p/ 2.8r/4.4a/0.9s/0.2b while shooting a miserable 9.1% from 3 (and 8.3% over his final 12 games), Payton looked exactly who the Magic knew he was when they traded him: a point guard with mid-second round pick value.
Throughout the Valley of the Suns, fan’s hops of an impressive steal burst like a dam, rushing water around the arid landscape leaving nothing but a dry Arizona river bed.
It seems unlikely that Payton will return to the Suns next season, unless he finds no traction elsewhere in unrestricted free agency and signs a low cost contract to be Phoenix’s backup.