Who is Cameron Payne? Fast Facts on the Toronto Raptors' latest signing

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The Toronto Raptors announced on Thursday that they have signed guard Cameron Payne.

Shams Charania of The Athletic was first to report the signing, adding that Payne has agreed to a two-year deal with the defending champions.


Who is Payne and what will he bring to the table? Here are some fast facts on the Raptors' latest signing...

Background

Cameron Payne was born on Aug. 8, 1994 in Memphis, Tennessee. He played his high school basketball at Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis.

Payne was not heavily recruited out of high school due to his size and was considered a 3-star recruit by Rivals.com. He accepted an offer to play his college basketball at Murray State, a small Division-I school in Kentucky.

College Career

Payne made an immediate impact as a freshman, averaging 16.8 points, 5.4 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game en route to All-Ohio Valley Conference First Team and OVC Rookie of the Year honours.

His domination continued as a sophomore, averaging 20.2 points, 6.0 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game, earning him OVC Player of the Year as well as another OVC First Team honour.

After two successful seasons, Payne opted to enter the NBA Draft.

NBA Draft

Despite questions about his size, Payne was selected in the lottery of the 2015 NBA Draft. The Oklahoma City Thunder selected the mid-major guard with the No. 14 pick in the draft in hopes of stashing a young guard who could learn under franchise player Russell Westbrook.

NBA Career

It's been a rollercoaster of a career for the 24-year-old, who has played for three teams in four seasons.

Injuries riddled the start of his career and he hasn't been able to find consistent playing time since. He spent his entire rookie season in Oklahoma City where he posted 5.0 points and 1.9 assists in 12.2 minutes over 57 games.

The next season, OKC moved Payne in a deal to the Chicago Bulls for Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott. He appeared in only 11 games with the Bulls in 2016-17 and foot surgery sidelined him until February in 2017-18, but he flashed some potential in the final 25 games of his second season with the franchise with averages of 8.8 points and 4.5 assists on 38.5% shooting from long range.

Payne was then waived by the Bulls this past season before signing a 10-day contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs signed him to a second 10-day contract at the conclusion of the first one but parted ways with him following the end of the second deal.

Payne is coming off of an impressive Summer League campaign for the Dallas Mavericks where he averaged 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game on 51% shooting from the field in three contests.

What he brings

In his report, Charania added that Payne will have the opportunity to compete for a reserve point guard spot in Toronto.

Payne has proven that he has the ability to score in bunches between stints in the Summer League and G League. He's been an average 3-point shooter in his career thus far but his showing in this past Summer League suggests he's made significant progress on that front.


Payne could give the Raptors some needed guard depth with another player that has the potential to get hot off the bench.

Author(s)
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Kyle Irving is an NBA content producer for The Sporting News.