Knicks Add Cam Payne

When the unexpected news of New York's signing of Cam Payne broke last night, most Knicks fans were puzzled.

The 'Bockers already had plenty of depth in the backcourt, particularly following Tyler Kolek's impressive summer league debut. Thus, it was assumed that adding a point guard like Payne was not near the top of the priority list, especially considering the Knicks have yet to address the backup center issue. 

However, the reality is New York needs to flesh out its roster, even after it eventually adds bigs up front. As of Monday morning, New York only had 12 players under contract for the 2024-25 campaign. With Payne in the mix, that number rises to 13, still two short of the 15 it can carry into the season. 

Payne agreed to a deal for the veteran's minimum ($3.1 million for a player with eight years of experience), so his salary won't eat into the Knicks' remaining cap space or their tax-payers mid-level exception. 

When you enter a season with legitimate championship aspirations, every roster spot counts. In years past, the Knicks could afford to stash developmental projects at the end of the bench. Going forward, they will likely have to err on the side of caution by having too much proven, productive depth at each position. In today's NBA, regular-season games and even playoff series (as we saw this past postseason) can be decided by which team has the most quality players available. 

I'll be honest, I've never been a big Cam Payne fan (like many, I'm probably biased by his ghastly shooting form), but after struggling early on in his career, he's developed into a solid shooter and posted solid numbers. 

Dating back to the start of the 2019-20 season, Payne has converted 38.6% of his three-point attempts and over 84% of his free throws. He's also posted a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio during that span. 

He began last season in Milwaukee before being dealt to the Sixers at the deadline in exchange for Patrick Beverley. In 31 appearances for Philadelphia, Payne played well, averaging 9.3 points, 3.1 assists (vs. 1.1 turnovers) and 1.7 three-pointers in less than 20 minutes a night while shooting over 38% from downtown and over 91% from the charity stripe. 

An aspect of his resume that appealed to Leon Rose and the Knicks front office is Payne's ability to step up when the pressure increases. He played some of the best ball of his career for Phoenix when the Suns advanced all the way to the NBA Finals in 2021.

In 2023, Payne was thrust into the Suns' starting lineup after Chris Paul went down in their second-round matchup vs. Denver. Over the final four games of that series, Payne averaged 12.5 points, 4.0 dimes and 2.5 treys while shooting 53% from the floor and 48% from behind the arc. (For what it's worth, Payne and Mikal Bridges grew close during the time they spent together in Phoenix.) 

Just a few months ago, the Knicks got an up-close look at the pesky Payne skipping down the floor at MSG after nailing big three-balls against New York. As a rotation regular in the final four games of the first-round series vs. the Knicks (after Nick Nurse decided to play him instead of Buddy Hield), Payne knocked down 8 of the 18 (44%) three-pointers he attempted. 

After scoring 11 points in 16 minutes against NY in Game 3, Payne told reporters, "Energy costs nothing. We as humans, we feed off energy, we feed off confidence... sometimes for a lot of bench guys, that's our job: to keep giving guys confidence, keep showing love to the guys that are out there playing. Because you never know when you might be out there and want that energy back. It brings confidence to the team, it makes everybody pick it up... I like having fun. It's still a child's game."

Chemistry and good vibes in the locker room have been essential to the Knicks' success in recent years, so adding a high-energy guy like Payne makes sense in that respect as well.

Yet, almost immediately after it was announced that Payne was NYC-bound, many Knicks fans began to wonder nervously if the signing was a precursor to a forthcoming trade. Specifically, fans speculated that Payne's coming in meant Deuce McBride would be shipped out for a center.