The Phoenix Suns moved on from Cameron Payne after many years of solid point guard play surely expecting him to continue a long career elsewhere. Just two years later, however, his career is falling apart around him.
Cam Payne entered the NBA in the 2015 NBA Draft out of Murray State, preceding another Murray State guard in Ja Morant by a few years. He was drafted 14th by the Oklahoma City Thunder, one pick after the Phoenix Suns drafted some Kentucky guard named Devin Booker.
The 6'3" point guard has proceeded to carve out a long NBA career settling into a very specific niche: backup point guard. He has played in 477 career regular season games and started just 71 of them. In every season he has averaged between 12.2 minutes per game (in his rookie season) and 23.3 at the high end for the Chicago Bulls in 2017-18. He has been a career backup point guard.
That is the role he played for the Phoenix Suns as well. He joined the team specifically for the NBA Bubble and was a part of their 8-0 record as the Suns announced that they were putting together something special in the desert. He proceeded to play four seasons in total for Phoenix, backing up the likes of Booker and Chris Paul.
Payne had some real highlight moments for the franchise as well, including a few volcanic scoring explosions in the playoffs in place of an injured Paul. He had the ability to get molten lava hot with his 3-point shot, and his crafty bag of finishes and active hands on defense helped him to carve out such a longtime role in the league.
Cam Payne may be done in the NBA
Things may finally be done for Payne, however. The veteran guard spent last season with the New York Knicks, appearing in 72 games as Jalen Brunson's backup at the point. This summer, however, the financial crunch of the Knicks' roster underneath the tax aprons led them in another direction than bringing back Payne.
He instead signed with the Indiana Pacers for training camp and the preseason, and he seemed to be on track to make the roster. With Tyrese Haliburton out for the year and now backup point guard TJ McConnell sidelined to start the year, there seemed to be a need for a veteran hand at the point in Indiana.
Instead, they chose to keep an extra body at center and waived Payne at the close of training camp. They will go into the season hoping rookie second-round pick Kam Jones and two-way guard RayJ Dennis can hold down the point for a few weeks until McConnell is back.
That means that Payne finds himself adrift without an NBA home. At this point in the calendar teams have decided who they are going into the season with. No team chose Cam Payne. And for a small guard at 31 years old, this could be the beginning of the end.
Payne will hope to catch on with a team later in the year; perhaps he could be in line to sign a temporary deal with a team like the Memphis Grizzlies who are dealing with injuries at point guard themselves and could qualify for a hardship provision.
Things are rocky, however, and there is no obvious path to calmer, career-extending waters. Cam Payne's career is coming to a close, and there may be very little he can do about it.