<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/76ers-news-fake-name-cameron-payne-used-before-arrest');   ga('set', 'title', 'The fake name 76ers’ Cameron Payne used before arrest');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/76ers-news-The-fake-name-Cameron-Payne-used-before-arrest.jpg"></figure><h1>The fake name 76ers’ Cameron Payne used before arrest</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-07-02T09:42:26-07:00">July 2nd, 9:42am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-07-02T11:24:49-07:00">July 2nd, 11:24am</time><address><a>Rexwell Villas</a>Rexwell Villas is an experienced sports writer covering a variety of sports, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and college football. He's a Communications Arts graduate from the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines, and he claims to have JR Smith's conscience with his shot selection. He has won a basketball, a baseball, and a football championship in fantasy all within a year.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Philadelphia 76ers point guard Cameron Payne made news last month when it was reported that he was <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/76ers-news-cameron-payne-arrested-alleged-false-report">arrested and jailed</a> in Arizona after denying police officers’ request to give them his real name, instead providing the authorities with a made-up identity. Now, it’s been revealed that the <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2024/07/02/nba-cameron-payne-repeatedly-refused-to-give-cops-name-prior-to-arrest-police-say/?adid=social-tws" rel="noopener">fake name he used</a> before his arrest was “Terry Johnson,” (h/t TMZ Sports).</p><p><i>Officers wrote in the docs that all they needed to wrap up their investigation was Payne’s name and date of birth — but that’s when they say the Philadelphia 76ers guard stopped cooperating.</i></p><p><i>They say for minutes, Payne would not tell them who he was … insisting he was actually “Terry Johnson.” When they told him they believed he was lying and would need to arrest him if he continued to be dishonest, they say he told them, “That’s fine.”</i></p><p>Payne’s trouble started when he dialed 911 amid a verbal argument with his girlfriend on the morning of June 14. Once the cops showed up, Payne and his girlfriend had apparently already smoothened things out. The officers were said to be ready to leave and needed just some information from Payne to finish their visit. However, the veteran NBA guard refused to cooperate and instead told them that his name was Terry Johnson. That ultimately led to his arrest. He was also charged with a count of refusal to provide a truthful name and another count of false report to law enforcement. Payne was later released by the police.</p><p>Perhaps Payne was merely making an effort to prevent his name from potentially going public after a visit from the police. That said, he could have saved himself from bigger troubles — like getting booked and jailed — if he only provided his real name. This looks like a case of bad judgment on the part of Payne. He has not spoken about the arrest and the incident since.</p><p>Payne played for the Milwaukee Bucks and the 76ers during the 2023-24 NBA season. He was <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/bucks-news-milwaukee-trades-for-patrick-beverley-in-deal-with-76ers">traded by the Bucks</a> before the deadline last February to Philadelphia along with a 2027 second-round pick in exchange for Patrick Beverley. In 31 games with Philadelphia, the former Murray State Racers star averaged 9.3 points and 3.1 assists while shooting only 41.3 percent from the field. He was a decent 38.1 percent shooter from deep, however.</p><p>He started his NBA career with the Oklahoma City Thunder, who took him in the first round of the 2014 NBA Draft. Payne also had stops with the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Phoenix Suns.</p><h2><b>Social media reacts to 76ers guard’s use of fake name and arrest</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Cameron-Payne-celebrates-after-hitting-a-3-pointer-for-the-76ers.jpg"><figcaption>Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure><p>NBA fans online can’t help themselves but <a href="https://x.com/TheDunkCentral/status/1808144268751421718" rel="noopener">make all sorts of fun</a> about Payne’s use of Terry Johnson.</p><p>“Terry Johnson catching stray for no reason”</p><p>“Cam Payne will forever be known to me as Terry Johnson”</p><p>“He should have gone by his initials: DNP-CD”</p><p>“he should’ve said his name was “Chet Holmgren””</p><p>“FREE TERRY JOHNSON BRO AINT EVEN DO NOTHIN”</p><p>“Need a Terry Johnson jersey STAT”</p><p>“Not only should he be set free, but the arresting officers should be suspended without pay effective immediately. Insane abuse of power &amp; most likely racial profiling. A lawsuit should also be on the table.”</p><p>“Should have said Dwayne Johnson and then continued with..”</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Should have said Dwayne Johnson and then continued with.. <a href="https://t.co/2WrXIoFuYg">pic.twitter.com/2WrXIoFuYg</a></p><p>— ImJustMeAbel (@ImJustMeAbel) <a href="https://twitter.com/ImJustMeAbel/status/1808160914878734436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2024</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>“See this become a meme when he drops a stinker😂”</p><p>“He does look like a Terry Jonhson to be fair 😂”</p><p>“Is there a “Terry Johnson” PG being linked to Suns in Free Agency? Can someone check? 👀”</p><p> </p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

The fake name 76ers’ Cameron Payne used before arrest

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/76ers-news-cameron-payne-arrested-alleged-false-report');   ga('set', 'title', '76ers’ Cameron Payne arrested over alleged false report');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Cameron-Payne-arrested-over-alleged-false-report.jpg"></figure><h1>76ers’ Cameron Payne arrested over alleged false report</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-06-14T13:41:53-07:00">June 14th, 1:41pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-06-14T13:53:13-07:00">June 14th, 1:53pm</time><address><a>Benedetto Vitale</a>Benedetto Vitale is an avid sports writer who is an expert at covering the NFL, college football, NBA, and UFC. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 2016 with a film degree but has since dedicated his career to sports writing.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Philadelphia <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/why-donovan-clingan-perfect-fit-philadelphia-76ers-no-16-pick-2024-nba-draft">76ers are about</a> to begin their offseason along with the rest of the league. However, backup point guard, Cameron Payne is facing some legal trouble after being arrested on Friday morning.</p><p><a href="https://www.tmz.com/2024/06/14/nba-cameron-payne-arrested-for-giving-false-report-to-cops/?adid=social-tws" rel="noopener">Reports indicate that</a> Cameron Payne was arrested, “after cops claim he gave officers a false report,” according to TMZ Sports. The alleged incident took place in Scottsdale, Arizona.</p><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Joel-Embiid.jpg"><figcaption>© Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/3-76ers-2024-nba-draft-targets-with-no-16-pick">76ers had a</a> disappointing end to their season after being eliminated in the playoffs. Even the regular season wasn’t that great, as Philadelphia entered the postseason as a seven seed through the Play-In Tournament. So, the franchise is certainly hoping to improve moving forward.</p><p>To do so, the 76ers are going to need a big offseason. The good news is the organization will have plenty of cap space to make a splash in free agency. Additionally, there’s a chance Philly makes a big trade to bring in another star player as well. When it comes down to it, this team could add one or two big-name players to play alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.</p><p>If that’s the case, then Philadelphia needs to make sure to also think about the depth of the roster. We just watched the Phoenix Suns go all out on their starting lineup but the lack of depth crushed them in the playoffs. If the 76ers can do it right, they have a real chance to build a top-tier roster to challenge the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

76ers’ Cameron Payne arrested over alleged false report

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba-news-cameron-payne-3-best-destinations-after-spurs-release-veteran-point-guard');   ga('set', 'title', '3 best Cameron Payne destinations after Spurs release veteran point guard');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Cameron-Payne-X-best-destinations-after-Spurs-release-veteran-point-guard.jpeg"></figure><h1>3 best Cameron Payne destinations after Spurs release veteran point guard</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-09-12T18:56:44-07:00">September 12th, 6:56pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-09-12T18:56:44-07:00">September 12th, 6:56pm</time><address><a>James Salmon</a>James is a published author, sports writer and editor from Melbourne, Australia. 'Sport's Greatest Statistical Anomalies' is his book, and aside from being a BRILLIANT read, is testament to his love of all things sport, and in particular stats. A Nets fan, James yearns for the days of yesteryear, when playoffs were all but irrelevant and the likes of Caris Levert and Jarrett Allen were running the show.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Mini-Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>It’s been a tumultuous little off-season for Cameron Payne. After being <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-cam-payne-traded-spurs-bol-bol-signed-flurry-of-moves" rel="noopener">traded by the Suns to the Spurs</a>, he was <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/spurs-news-cam-payne-waived-after-offseason-trade-with-suns" rel="noopener">waived earlier in the week</a>. He’ll be looking for a new home for a result, but particularly after the last game in the NBA he played there will no doubt be a number of suitors. Payne is no superstar and won’t be more than a back-up point guard on virtually any team in the league, but <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-cameron-payne-game-6-playoff-career-high" rel="noopener">his 31-point explosion</a> in Game 6 of the Suns’ series loss to the Nuggets last season proved that he’s certainly still got something to offer at the NBA level. These are three of the top landing spots for the 29-year-old.</p><h2><b>1. Milwaukee Bucks</b></h2><p>After playing 42 playoff games across his last three seasons with the Suns, Cameron Payne feels like the kind of guy destined to head to a contender as a back-up option, and the Bucks could be one of the best fits for him. Obviously they have a number of high-level guys who can handle the ball, with each of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo spending a lot of time with the rock in their hands. But in terms of a back-up point guard, there aren’t a whole lot of options.</p><p>At present, the Bucks’ point guard depth chart is pretty grim, with AJ Green, Lindell Washington and Andre Jackson Jr coming in behind Holiday. The latter was just drafted in the second round, and the former two have played less than 40 games each. Payne would provide some valuable experience coming off the bench as someone who can facilitate the offense for a period of time, while his reasonable outside shooting means he could play alongside his more established teammates off the ball, too.</p><h2><b>2. Boston Celtics</b></h2><p>The Celtics haven’t exactly been short of a guard over the last few years, with Marcus Smart, Malcolm Brogdon and Derrick White helping out Tatum and Brown with the ball-handling duties. But with Smart <a href="https://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/37896379/grizzlies-acquire-marcus-smart-celtics-3-team-deal-involving-kristaps-porzingis-tyus-jones-sources-say" rel="noopener">now gone they</a> may very well have room for one more, and Cameron Payne could be a good option to fill that void. Payton Pritchard will be the name that the Celtics are hoping steps up in Smart’s absence and their desire to develop him may preclude them from signing Payne, but Pritchard’s ability to meaningfully contribute at NBA is not yet established and Payne would certainly provide a more robust option. The Celtics will also be expecting to be in the championship conversation this year, so as it may with the Bucks, Payne’s recent playoff experience could be a major factor.</p><h2><b>3. Minnesota Timberwolves</b></h2><p>The Timberwolves aren’t exactly at the same stage as the aforementioned contenders, but a little bit of added depth at the point guard position could certainly help them out as they attempt to work their way up the Western Conference standings. Mike Conley is their starting point guard and will do a bulk of the work running the offense, but at 35 a little help for him would certainly be beneficial. Jordan McLaughlin is their most traditional back-up point guard option, but Payne would almost certainly be a more productive option than him. The Timberwolves also have Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Shake Milton, but both of them are more suited to playing off ball or at best in a combo role, rather than as the primary facilitator.</p><p>Cameron Payne’s explosion in his last game with the Suns didn’t change the fact that he’s no superstar, but it was indicative of the fact that he’s a more than capable player in the NBA. He has the capacity to be one of the more productive back-up point guards in the league, and the above three teams are among his best potential landing spots.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

3 best Cameron Payne destinations after Spurs release veteran point guard

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/suns-news-cameron-payne-trade-spurs');   ga('set', 'title', 'Former Suns guard Cameron Payne drops bittersweet take following trade from Phoenix');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/payne.jpg"></figure><h1>Former Suns guard Cameron Payne drops bittersweet take following trade from Phoenix</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-08-10T10:05:12-07:00">August 10th, 10:05am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-08-10T10:05:12-07:00">August 10th, 10:05am</time><address><a>Trevor Booth</a>Trevor Booth is a beat writer covering the Phoenix Suns, in addition to working as an associate editor. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in sports journalism from Arizona State University in 2021. Booth is passionate about his faith, video games, sports with friends and making the most of his time with his girlfriend when he's not working.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Former Phoenix Suns point guard Cameron Payne believes he would help the team compete for its first-ever championship this season. <a href="https://twitter.com/CGBBURNER/status/1689512105022562304" rel="noopener">Via</a> his Instagram Live, per @CGBBURNER on ‘X.’</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Cam Payne on IG live talking about getting traded from the Suns. </p><p>“I wish i was in Phoenix still.. It is what it is man, they trynna win the chip and i respect it. I feel like they could’ve won the chip with me tho” <a href="https://t.co/jcUsfK4H06">pic.twitter.com/jcUsfK4H06</a></p><p>— CantGuardBook (@CGBBURNER) <a href="https://twitter.com/CGBBURNER/status/1689512105022562304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2023</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>“I wish I was in Phoenix still,” Payne said. “It is what it is man, they trying to win the [championship] and I respect it. I feel like they could have won the ‘chip with me though.”</p><p>The Suns <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-cam-payne-trade-bol-bol-signing" rel="noopener">traded Payne,</a> who was the team’s backup point guard for the last 3 1/2 seasons, to the San Antonio Spurs July 19. Phoenix has a new coach, Frank Vogel, who is known for building top defenses in the NBA. Payne is a very energetic player but he is listed at 6-foot-1 and 183 pounds, which makes him limited as a defensive player.</p><p>Phoenix also traded its starting point guard for the last three seasons, Chris Paul, to the Washington Wizards for guard Bradley Beal. Paul was soon traded to the Golden State Warriors.</p><p>Last season for the Suns, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-cameron-payne-trade-spurs-james-jones" rel="noopener">Payne averaged</a> 10.3 points and 4.5 assists per game. He shot 41.5 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from 3-point range.</p><p>He suffered a lower back injury before the playoffs and returned for the Suns’ Game 5 versus the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Payne started the Suns’ final four games of the postseason after Paul suffered a groin injury in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series against the Denver Nuggets.</p><p>Phoenix was eliminated in six games, but Payne had a terrific performance in Game 6. He had a playoff career-high 31 points on 12-of-16 shooting. He told reporters after the game he felt like he was just finding his groove.</p><p>“I just wish we was still playing to really show y’all I got a little bit more to me,” Payne said.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Former Suns guard Cameron Payne drops bittersweet take following trade from Phoenix

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba-rumors-suns-interested-pacers-tj-mcconnell-cameron-payne-trade');   ga('set', 'title', 'RUMOR: Suns still interested in Pacers’ T.J. McConnell after Cameron Payne trade, but there’s a catch');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NBA-rumors-Suns-still-interested-in-Pacers_-TJ-McConnell-after-Cameron-Payne-trade-but-there_s-a-catch.jpg"></figure><h1>RUMOR: Suns still interested in Pacers’ T.J. McConnell after Cameron Payne trade, but there’s a catch</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-07-24T11:59:22-07:00">July 24th, 11:59am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-07-24T12:07:17-07:00">July 24th, 12:07pm</time><address><a href="https://joeymistretta.wordpress.com">Joey Mistretta</a>Joey Mistretta is a sports writer/editor who covers multiple sports. Notably, Mistretta covers baseball, basketball, and football. He is originally from a small town in Southern California. Mistretta graduated college with a degree in broadcast journalism from Biola University.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Phoenix Suns have been extremely active during the NBA offseason. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-devin-booker-dlo-camp-bradley-beal-offseason" rel="noopener">They added</a> superstar Bradley Beal, but their backcourt is now lacking depth after losing players like Chris Paul and Cameron Payne. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-cam-payne-traded-spurs-bol-bol-signed-flurry-of-moves" rel="noopener">The Payne trade</a> was surprising to an extent, and Phoenix is looking for a replacement. The Suns are <a href="https://marcstein.substack.com/p/in-the-trade-happy-nba-love-is-not?utm_source=post-email-title&amp;publication_id=392205&amp;post_id=135392260&amp;isFreemail=false&amp;utm_medium=email" rel="noopener">reportedly interested</a> in Indiana Pacers guard TJ McConnell, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.</p><p>However, Stein also revealed two concerns when it comes to the Suns’ interest in McConnell.</p><p>“After shipping Cameron Payne to San Antonio earlier this month, Phoenix has no readily tradeable players left on its roster until free agents become eligible to be dealt Dec. 15. Word is McConnell, furthermore, is hopeful of staying with the Pacers,” Stein wrote on marcstein.substack.com.</p><h2><b>Suns’ depth concerns</b></h2><p>Phoenix’s all-around depth is in question at the moment. They feature plenty of star power given their big four of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Deandre Ayton. However, as Stein stated, Phoenix doesn’t have many trade assets at the moment. Acquiring a player like McConnell wouldn’t be too costly, but the Suns will not have much to offer until December.</p><p>McConnell, a guard, has been in the NBA since 2015. He’s never been a superstar but is a reliable option. McConnell has also been quite durable, something that teams will not overlook given the amount of injuries around the league. He appeared in 75 games for Indiana during the 2022-23 season, averaging 8.7 points and 5.3 assists per game in 20.3 minutes per contest.</p><p>Even if the Suns can’t trade for him despite their interest, McConnell may garner trade attention from other teams around the league.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

RUMOR: Suns still interested in Pacers’ T.J. McConnell after Cameron Payne trade, but there’s a catch

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba-rumors-suns-eyeing-pacers-trade-for-point-guard-upgrade-over-cameron-payne');   ga('set', 'title', 'RUMOR: Suns eyeing Pacers trade for point guard upgrade over Cameron Payne');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Pacers-Suns-trade-TJ-McConnell-Kevin-Durant-Devin-Booker-Tyrese-Haliburton-Andrew-Nembhard.jpg"></figure><h1>RUMOR: Suns eyeing Pacers trade for point guard upgrade over Cameron Payne</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-07-13T07:30:48-07:00">July 13th, 7:30am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-07-13T07:30:48-07:00">July 13th, 7:30am</time><address><a href="https://letterboxd.com/splooshpuhrty/films/by/your-rating/">Jedd Pagaduan</a>Loves Arsenal and the Los Angeles Clippers, so his loyalty can never be questioned. This guy has been through enough sports trauma for one lifetime -- so he writes about it instead as a form of therapy. (It hasn't worked though. Someday maybe it will -- especially when he's been working for ClutchPoints since August 2022.)</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Phoenix Suns were one of the busiest teams this offseason, dealing away Chris Paul and the rest of their tradeable draft-pick capital <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-bradley-beal-devin-booker-truth-bomb-will-fire-up-fans" rel="noopener">for Bradley Beal</a> and signing a plethora of potential contributors in free agency. One of the Suns’ main problems last season was their lack of depth around their core four led by Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, and they seem to have remedied that situation by signing a lot of players who will play huge roles next season for the team.</p><p>However, the Suns reportedly aren’t done wheeling and dealing just yet. Even in the aftermath of all their free-agent signings (<a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-2023-nba-free-agency-grades-every-signing" rel="noopener">they already signed seven players</a>), they don’t have the most impressive assortment of talent at the point (Cameron Payne and Jordan Goodwin). Thus, it’s no surprise to see that the team is already looking to boost their depth at the position.</p><p>As Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports pointed out, the Suns are <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-summer-league-dispatch-the-latest-on-damian-lillard-pascal-siakam-and-others-who-might-be-on-the-move-221154632.html" rel="noopener">reportedly looking</a> at trading for Pacers point guard TJ McConnell.</p><p>“The Pacers have been mentioned in another possible trade discussion this week. Phoenix has continued to explore trade scenarios regarding reserve guard Cam Payne, league sources told Yahoo Sports, and Indiana point guard T.J. McConnell has been one player on the Suns’ radar,” Fischer wrote.</p><p>TJ McConnell is a different kind of point guard from Cameron Payne, so it’s not too fair to think that one is necessarily a better player than the other. McConnell is more of a pass-first defensive pest, while the Suns point guard is more of a shooter from beyond the arc as well as a better rim attacker than the Pacers floor general.</p><p>But with the Suns having offensive firepower all over the roster, perhaps McConnell is a better fit for the roster, an offensive conductor who loves to dish the rock. He’ll certainly make the lives of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal a whole lot easier.</p><p>Given the Pacers’ improved depth in the backcourt in the aftermath of the Bruce Brown signing and the selection of Ben Sheppard in the 2023 NBA Draft, McConnell can definitely be had for the right price. It’s all up to the Suns to match it.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

RUMOR: Suns eyeing Pacers trade for point guard upgrade over Cameron Payne

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/suns-news-frank-vogel-teases-cameron-payne-plan-to-round-out-star-studded-starting-lineup/');   ga('set', 'title', 'Suns’ Frank Vogel teases Cameron Payne plan to round out star-studded starting lineup');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Payne-1.jpg"></figure><h1>Suns’ Frank Vogel teases Cameron Payne plan to round out star-studded starting lineup</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-06-29T16:25:18-07:00">June 29th, 4:25pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-06-29T16:25:18-07:00">June 29th, 4:25pm</time><address><a>David Yapkowitz</a>David is in his first season as an NBA Associate Editor at ClutchPoints. He is based in Los Angeles and currently covers basketball at every level from NBA/WNBA to men/women college and boys/girls high school.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Phoenix Suns made a blockbuster move at last season’s traded deadline when they acquired Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets. The move decimated the Suns depth but it was a move they needed to make. Then on draft day, the Suns made <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-bradley-beal-devin-booker-truth-bomb-will-fire-up-fans/" rel="noopener">another big trade</a> to acquire Bradley Beal from the Washington Wizards. That move wiped away what little depth the Suns had left leaving new head coach Frank Vogel contemplating potential lineups. After some uncertainty, it appears as if the Suns <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba-rumors-suns-deandre-ayton-trade-decision-bradley-beal-chris-paul/" rel="noopener">will have</a> Deandre Ayton back in the fold. In a recent press conference to introduce Beal, Vogel <a href="https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1674515639996760072?s=20" rel="noopener">hinted</a> that Cameron Payne might be in the mix next season.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Frank Vogel says the Suns will have a “multiple ball-handler attack” and sees it as a benefit that Bradley Beal and Devin Booker can play point guard. </p><p>“We want to play with pace,” Vogel said. </p><p>He also said Cam Payne will “be in the mix” as a PG option.</p><p>(via <a href="https://twitter.com/TrevorMBooth?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TrevorMBooth</a>) <a href="https://t.co/8o8ZHi6LnG">pic.twitter.com/8o8ZHi6LnG</a></p><p>— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1674515639996760072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 29, 2023</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>“We want to play with pace so we’re going to have a multiple ball-handler attack in most possessions,” Frank Vogel said. “But I love the fact that both Bradley and Devin have played the point in phases of their career and can initiate offense as can KD. We also want to see how the rest of the roster shakes out, to see if we add a point guard. Cam Payne will be in the mix. All those decisions will play out in camp.”</p><p>Cameron Payne has revived his NBA career with the Suns. After finding himself on the verge of being out of the NBA, he joined the Suns in the 2020 bubble and parlayed that performance into long term security contract-wise.</p><p>Payne dealt with injury issues when the 2023 playoffs rolled around, but during the season he averaged 10.3 points per game, 2.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists with splits of 41.5 percent shooting from the field, 36.8 percent shooting from the three-point line and 76.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Suns’ Frank Vogel teases Cameron Payne plan to round out star-studded starting lineup

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/will-suns-guarantee-cameron-paynes-2023-24-contract');   ga('set', 'title', 'Will Suns fully guarantee Cameron Payne’s contract for 2023-24?');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/payne.jpg"></figure><h1>Will Suns fully guarantee Cameron Payne’s contract for 2023-24?</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-05-30T14:08:21-07:00">May 30th, 2:08pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-05-30T14:38:06-07:00">May 30th, 2:38pm</time><address><a>Trevor Booth</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-cameron-payne-game-6-playoff-career-high" rel="noopener">Cameron Payne</a> has been the Energizer bunny for the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-3-head-coach-candidates-doc-rivers-kevin-young-frank-vogel" rel="noopener">Phoenix Suns</a> over the last three seasons.</p><p>But in the last two postseasons, he hasn’t provided the juice.</p><p>Payne, who signed a three-year, $19 million contract with the Suns after their run to the 2021 NBA Finals, has flatlined. He emerged due to his energy, patented finger-rolls and exceptional ability to energize the team without starting point guard Chris Paul for some playoff games.</p><p>The Suns needed all of it. Payne helped lead them to two wins in the 2021 Western Conference Finals. He had 29 points in Game 2 and carried the energy of the Suns crowd with him.</p><p>Payne is seemingly not that player anymore. To his credit, he worked through a back injury, had a playoff-best 31 points in the Suns’ Game 6 loss to the Denver Nuggets these playoffs and had more in the tank in this postseason, he said.</p><p>He has not used it enough over the last two years earn a role beyond this playoff run.</p><p>Here is why the Suns might not fully guarantee Payne’s $6,500,000 salary for the 2023-24 season.</p><h2>Inconsistency</h2><p>Two years ago, Payne had the windows rolled down in his red Ferrari, driving through a few miles of Suns fans who lined up to greet the team after they won the 2021 Western Conference title.</p><p>Payne was a catalyst for that success. He exploited teams with his quickness and looked like a player the Suns could use to speed up the Milwaukee Bucks, who had defender Jrue Holiday and a potent offensive attack themselves.</p><p>That did not happen. Paul played through torn ligaments in his wrist to that point in the postseason, and he may have dealt with another injury as the Suns lost the series in six games.</p><p>Cameron Payne averaged 7.6 points in the Finals on 43.1 percent shooting. He was not the same, energetic player as the conference finals and the first round versus the Los Angeles Lakers.</p><p>Since then, Payne’s theme has been the same. He has been good at times but not nearly enough to back up Paul, who is 38 years old with his best days behind him.</p><h2>Lack of playoff success</h2><p>To no fault of Payne’s own, he returned for the 2023 NBA playoffs from a lower back injury suffered before the final weekend of the regular season. He is the Suns’ only backup option at point guard, so Phoenix played Paul heavy minutes against the Clippers.</p><p>Payne was thrust into a bigger role in the Suns’ Western Conference semifinal series against the Denver Nuggets. He did not score more than seven points in Games 3 through 5.</p><p>Cameron Payne then had a playoff career-high 31 points in the Suns’ 125-100 loss to the Nuggets in Game 6. He told ClutchPoints after the game he wished he could have given more to Phoenix in the playoffs.</p><p>“Wish I would have played a lot better,” Payne said. “[In Game 6], I played alright. It just took a couple games for me. I just wish we were still playing to really show y’all I got a little bit more to me.”</p><h2>New direction</h2><p>The Suns fired coach Monty Williams after Game 6. They are currently in a coaching search in which they have three reported finalists: former Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel, former Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers and Williams’ associate head coach from the last two seasons, Kevin Young.</p><p>Phoenix also has a new majority owner, Mat Ishbia, who is very aggressive. He traded four unprotected first-round picks, a pick swap in 2028 and forwards Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson for forward Kevin Durant in February.</p><p>The Suns did not win a championship this season and have limitations under the new CBA. Durant, guards Devin Booker and Chris Paul and center Deandre Ayton will take up over 90 percent of the team’s salary cap for the upcoming season.</p><p>Phoenix is expected to make moves to build a team around Booker and Durant. Paul and Ayton could even be on the move, though TNT’s Chris Haynes <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba-rumors-suns-keep-chris-paul-guarantee-contract" rel="noopener">reported</a> the Suns are expected to guarantee Paul’s $30.8 million salary with the vision he will be their starting point guard to start next season.</p><p>Payne has $2 million already guaranteed for 2023-24, with a guarantee date for the full $6.5 million coming on June 29. The Suns could waive and stretch Payne’s guaranteed money to create a bit more salary cap flexibility, or they could look to trade him.</p><p>He has been an important piece to the Suns’ culture. But Phoenix has to have a contending roster, and Payne might not be seen as a part of that plan by ownership.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Will Suns fully guarantee Cameron Payne’s contract for 2023-24?

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/suns-news-cameron-payne-game-6-playoff-career-high');   ga('set', 'title', 'Suns guard Cameron Payne gets brutally honest on scoring playoff career-high after recovering from injury');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/739EE2E5-3149-4AEA-AEB2-FDC33D1FF885.jpeg"></figure><h1>Suns guard Cameron Payne gets brutally honest on scoring playoff career-high after recovering from injury</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-05-12T13:01:07-07:00">May 12th, 1:01pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-05-12T13:01:07-07:00">May 12th, 1:01pm</time><address><a>Trevor Booth</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Phoenix Suns got everything they could out of <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-x-factor-vs-nuggets-in-2023-nba-playoffs-and-its-not-torrey-craig" rel="noopener">Cameron Payne</a> in their season-ending 125-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals.</p><p>But Payne, who had a playoff career-high 31 points on 12-of-16 shooting, said he could have <a href="https://twitter.com/TrevorMBooth/status/1656898312707112960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1656898312707112960%7Ctwgr%5Ebd09cf07a6a89f661010d2daa3779406c1b71ce4%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.clutchpoints.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D2213935action%3Dedit" rel="noopener">emptied more from his tank</a> if the team’s season continued.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Cameron Payne met with the media following his 31-point game. I asked if it was difficult for him to find a rhythm this postseason once he returned from a lower back injury: </p><p>“A little bit…I just wish we were still playing to really show y’all I got a little bit more to me.” <a href="https://t.co/Z0PJK2AWhZ">pic.twitter.com/Z0PJK2AWhZ</a></p><p>— Trevor Booth (@TrevorMBooth) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrevorMBooth/status/1656898312707112960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2023</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>“I just wish we was still playing to really show y’all I got a little bit more to me,” Cameron Payne said. </p><p>Payne was thrust into an important role this series. He entered the starting lineup in the last four games after Chris Paul suffered a left groin strain in the Suns’ Game 2 loss.</p><p>Payne, who has started for Paul and contributed in the past, had to find a rhythm quickly. It was not easy since he recovered from a lower back injury suffered late in the regular season and returned for the Suns’ Game 5 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in round one.</p><p>He told reporters it was “a little bit” difficult to find that groove.</p><p>“It was playoffs and it’s a lot more physical, things like that,” Payne said. “I was a little fatigued a couple of those games, it was like little short spurts. But [Paul] went out, so I had to play longer. So it’s just a little different for me. Wish I would have played a lot better, but I mean tonight, I played alright. It just took a couple games for me.”</p><p>Cameron Payne will enter the final season of his 3-year, $19 million contract he signed with the Suns at the end of the 2021 postseason.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Suns guard Cameron Payne gets brutally honest on scoring playoff career-high after recovering from injury

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/suns-news-cameron-payne-playing-clippers-game-5');   ga('set', 'title', 'Is Suns guard Cameron Payne playing vs. Clippers in Game 5?');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Cameron-Payne-Phoenix-Suns-Los-Angeles-Clippers.jpeg"></figure><h1>Is Suns guard Cameron Payne playing vs. Clippers in Game 5?</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-04-25T10:07:38-07:00">April 25th, 10:07am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-04-25T10:07:38-07:00">April 25th, 10:07am</time><address><a>Mark Nilon</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Phoenix Suns find themselves on the brink of advancing to the Western Conference Semifinals heading into Tuesday’s Game 5, as <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba-playoffs-odds-clippers-vs-suns-game-5-prediction-pick-how-to-watch-4-25-2023" rel="noopener">they are up 3-1</a> in their best-of-seven matchup against the hobbled Los Angeles Clippers whilst heading back to their home court in Arizona. Aside from their commanding series lead, what makes their upcoming contest even more joyous is the fact that they could be getting key reserve Cameron Payne back on the hardwood for the first time this postseason. With this, the question on every Suns fan’s mind: <b>Is Cameron Payne playing tonight vs. the Clippers?</b></p><p><i><b>*Watch NBA games LIVE with fuboTV <a href="https://www.fubo.tv/lp/nba/?irad=356361&amp;irmp=492408" rel="noopener sponsored">(click for a free trial)*</a></b></i></p><h2><b>Cameron Payne injury status vs. Clippers</b></h2><p>Suns guard Cameron Payne has been found donning street clothes on the sidelines since the club’s regular-season finale back on April 9 due to <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-is-cameron-payne-playing-in-game-2-vs-clippers" rel="noopener">a nagging back injury</a>.</p><p>Though Phoenix has managed to win three of these five outings and find themselves just one win away from punching their ticket to round two, the 28-year-old’s contributions have still been sorely missed.</p><p>Fortunately for the Suns, however, it appears that they may be gearing up to be graced with Cameron Payne’s on-court contributions for what is hoped to be a close-out Game 5, as his status has been bumped up to “Probable” for Tuesday’s affair, as per <a href="https://ak-static.cms.nba.com/referee/injury/Injury-Report_2023-04-25_12PM.pdf" rel="noopener">the league’s official injury report</a>.</p><p>Through 48 games played in 2022-23, the eighth-year veteran has posted solid averages of 10.3 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.2 rebounds while shooting 36.8% from distance.</p><p>Getting Payne back into the mix could prove to be a great asset for the Suns to have, as he not only could go on to shake off any present rust while also giving veteran Chris Paul some much-needed rest time on the pine for longer spurts than what he’s received thus far in the NBA Playoffs.</p><p>However, in the meantime, when it comes to the question of whether or not <b>Cameron Payne will be playing tonight vs. the Clippers</b>, the answer seems to be rather promising.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Is Suns guard Cameron Payne playing vs. Clippers in Game 5?

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/suns-news-is-cameron-payne-playing-clippers-game-3');   ga('set', 'title', 'Is Suns guard Cameron Payne playing vs. Clippers in Game 3?');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Cameron-Payne.jpeg"></figure><h1>Is Suns guard Cameron Payne playing vs. Clippers in Game 3?</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-04-20T08:59:50-07:00">April 20th, 8:59am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-04-20T08:59:50-07:00">April 20th, 8:59am</time><address><a>Mark Nilon</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>After a let-down loss in Game 1, the Phoenix Suns stormed back with a vengeance in Game 2 and evened their quarterfinals series against the Los Angeles Clippers at one game apiece. Now heading on the road to Crypto.com Arena, Monty Williams and company are looking to regain home-court advantage by clawing out a win in Game 3. Fortunately, they may be gearing up to do so with their <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-cameron-payne-receives-critical-injury-update-ahead-of-game-3-vs-clippers" rel="noopener">trusty sixth man Cameron Payne</a> back in the fold. With this, the question on every Suns fan’s mind: <b>Is Cameron Payne playing tonight vs. the Clippers?</b></p><p><i><b>*Watch NBA games LIVE with fuboTV <a href="https://www.fubo.tv/lp/nba/?irad=356361&amp;irmp=492408" rel="noopener sponsored">(click for a free trial)*</a></b></i></p><h2><b>Cameron Payne injury status vs. Clippers</b></h2><p>Cameron Payne has been held out of the Suns’ rotation for their last three straight outings with <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-is-cameron-payne-playing-in-game-2-vs-clippers" rel="noopener">a nagging back injury</a>. Luckily, it appears that the veteran may be inching closer to making his return to action, as his status has been bumped up to “Questionable” for Thursday’s Game 3, as per <a href="https://ak-static.cms.nba.com/referee/injury/Injury-Report_2023-04-20_10AM.pdf" rel="noopener">the league’s official injury report</a>.</p><p>While Phoenix is viewed as a legitimate contender to take home the Larry O’Brien Trophy come year’s end, they are a club far from being viewed as flawless. Arguably their biggest weakness seems to be their backcourt depth, and not having Payne in the mix has certainly made their collection of talent in this area of the depth chart even more barren.</p><p>Despite being hobbled by injuries throughout the year, the eighth-year pro has still proven to be quite impactful when found on the floor. Through 48 games played, Cameron Payne has posted solid averages of 10.3 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.2 rebounds while shooting 36.8% from distance.</p><p>Should he be relegated to the sidelines for his fourth-straight game, however, Monty Williams will likely once again look to Landry Shamet to take on point guard duties behind star Chris Paul.</p><p>However, in the meantime, when it comes to the question of whether or not <b>Cameron Payne will be playing tonight vs. the Clippers</b>, the answer is still undetermined.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Is Suns guard Cameron Payne playing vs. Clippers in Game 3?

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/suns-news-cameron-payne-receives-critical-injury-update-ahead-of-game-3-vs-clippers');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cameron Payne receives critical injury update ahead of Game 3 vs. Clippers');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Payne.jpg"></figure><h1>Cameron Payne receives critical injury update ahead of Game 3 vs. Clippers</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-04-19T16:57:01-07:00">April 19th, 4:57pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-04-19T16:57:01-07:00">April 19th, 4:57pm</time><address><a>David Yapkowitz</a>David is in his first season as an NBA Associate Editor at ClutchPoints. He is based in Los Angeles and currently covers basketball at every level from NBA/WNBA to men/women college and boys/girls high school.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Coming into <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/phoenix-suns-predictions-game-3-vs-clippers" rel="noopener">the Phoenix Suns</a> first round playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers, their depth was questionable. Sure enough, the Suns bench has been outplayed by the Clippers bench and that was big reason for their Game 1 loss and losing homecourt advantage. One of their most glaring needs right now is a backup point guard. Cameron Payne is dealing with a back injury and has not played yet in this series. His status for Game 3 is in question as he once again <a href="https://twitter.com/DuaneRankin/status/1648814785633591301?s=20" rel="noopener">appears</a> on the Suns injury report as questionable as per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Cameron Payne (low back) QUESTIONABLE Game 3. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Suns?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Suns</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClipperNation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClipperNation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAPlayoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBAPlayoffs</a></p><p>— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) <a href="https://twitter.com/DuaneRankin/status/1648814785633591301?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2023</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>The Suns have been relying on wings such as Josh Okogie, Landry Shamet and Terrence Ross to handle backup ball-handling duties although none of them are real point guards. Cameron Payne suffered the injury near the very end of the regular season and has been out since. He missed several games earlier this season with a foot injury.</p><p>There’s no question Payne could be helping the Suns in this series. He’s quietly become one of the better backup point guards in the NBA. This season Payne averaged 10.3 points per game, 2.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists with shooting splits of 41.5 percent shooting from the field, 36.8 percent shooting from the three-point line and 76.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line.</p><p>A former first round pick, Payne has revitalized his NBA career with the Suns after finding himself out of the league. He played incredibly well in the 2020 bubble and he carried that momentum over to the following season. Fans would surely be happy to see Payne off the Suns injury report at some time this series.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cameron Payne receives critical injury update ahead of Game 3 vs. Clippers

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/suns-news-is-cameron-payne-playing-in-game-2-vs-clippers');   ga('set', 'title', 'Suns get unfortunate Cameron Payne injury update for Game 2 vs. Clippers');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Is-Cameron-Payne-playing-in-Game-2-vs.-Clippers.jpeg"></figure><h1>Suns get unfortunate Cameron Payne injury update for Game 2 vs. Clippers</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2023-04-18T17:15:23-07:00">April 18th, 5:15pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2023-04-18T17:15:51-07:00">April 18th, 5:15pm</time><address><a>Jesse Cinquini</a>23-year-old aspiring sports journalist. Associate NBA editor at ClutchPoints. Staff Writer at SB Nation's CelticsBlog and The Knicks Wall.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-blame-game-1-loss-clippers" rel="noopener">Phoenix Suns</a> point guard Cameron Payne missed Game 1 of the team’s first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers due to a back injury. Without one of their top reserves, the Suns went on to lose by a final score of 115-110 behind 38 points from Kawhi Leonard. So when Leonard, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/clippers-news-paul-george-all-aboard-russell-westbrook-train-defensive-brilliance-game-1-vs-suns" rel="noopener">Russell Westbrook</a>, and the Clippers re-visit the Footprint Center on Tuesday night to play the Suns, every Suns fan will surely be dying to know: <b>Is Cameron Payne playing in Game 2 vs. the Clippers?</b></p><h2>Cameron Payne injury status vs. Clippers</h2><p>The Suns initially had Payne <a href="https://ak-static.cms.nba.com/referee/injury/Injury-Report_2023-04-18_03PM.pdf" rel="noopener">listed as questionable</a> for Tuesday’s showdown with low back soreness, per the NBA’s official injury report. No other Suns player is currently dealing with an injury.</p><p>Unfortunately for Phoenix, Payne was later <a href="https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1648475192669380608" rel="noopener">downgraded to out</a> before tipoff.</p><p>Cameron Payne, 28, is in his eighth year in the NBA and fourth as a member of the Suns franchise. He averaged 10.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game across 48 appearances this season (15 starts).</p><p>The former Murray State star struggled to shoot the ball accurately from the free-throw line in the 2022-23 campaign, at least by his standards — Payne’s 76.6% free-throw percentage was well below his career average of 81.6%.</p><p>Expect Tuesday’s matchup between the Suns and Clippers to go down to the wire, even without Payne iin the lineup. After all, the Clippers have been road warriors all season, as they were one of two Western Conference teams to finish with above-.500 records on the road. But with regard to the question, <b>Is Cameron Payne playing tonight in Game 2 vs. the Clippers</b>, the answer is no.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Suns get unfortunate Cameron Payne injury update for Game 2 vs. Clippers

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/suns-news-deandre-ayton-cameron-payne-ruled-out-via-injury-vs-rockets');   ga('set', 'title', 'Deandre Ayton, Cameron Payne ruled out via injury vs. Rockets');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Deandre-Ayton-Suns-Cameron-Payne.jpg"></figure><h1>Deandre Ayton, Cameron Payne ruled out via injury vs. Rockets</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2022-12-13T18:41:28-08:00">December 13th, 6:41pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2022-12-13T18:56:29-08:00">December 13th, 6:56pm</time><address><a>Rexwell Villas</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Phoenix Suns suffered injury blows <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba-odds-suns-vs-rockets-prediction-odds-and-pick-12-13-2022" rel="noopener">Tuesday</a> night against the Houston Rockets on the road, with the team <a href="https://twitter.com/Suns/status/1602852425316048897" rel="noopener">officially announcing</a> that both big man Deandre Ayton and point guard Cameron Payne are out for the rest of the said contest.</p><p><i>INJURY UPDATE: Deandre Ayton (left ankle) and Cameron Payne (right foot) both will not return.</i></p><p>Ayton apparently suffered the injury when he tried to take it strong to the basket with just a little over a minute remaining in the second quarter. He drew a shooting foul while attempting a layup but not stepped on the foot of Rockets defender Kevin Porter Jr. The Suns center was seen grimacing in pain after the play. Before leaving the game, Ayton only scored five points on 2-for-10 shooting from the field to go with three rebounds in 15 minutes of action. It is also possible that the Suns are only taking precautionary measures on Ayton and that the injury isn’t serious enough to cost him a game.</p><p>Meanwhile, Payne played just eight minutes but was more productive than Ayton, scoring nine points on an efficient 3-for-4 shooting from the floor while also dishing out a dime and a steal.</p><p>The injuries to Ayton and Payne are additional blows to the Suns, who are in the midst of a losing streak. They entered the Rockets game having lost all their last four contests. They also woke up Wednesday with just a 1-4 record in their last five games.</p><p>The hope for the Suns is that neither Ayton nor Payne will miss their next game on Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers on the road before they fly back <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-deandre-aytons-surprising-reaction-to-zion-williamsons-disrespectful-360-dunk" rel="noopener">home</a> to face the New Orleans Pelicans again on Saturday.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Deandre Ayton, Cameron Payne ruled out via injury vs. Rockets

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cameron Payne owes resurrected NBA career to former Suns star Penny Hardaway');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Suns-Cameron-Payne-Penny-Hardaway.jpg"></figure><h1>Cameron Payne owes resurrected NBA career to former Suns star Penny Hardaway</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-06-29T19:34:02-07:00">June 29th, 7:34pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-06-29T19:34:02-07:00">June 29th, 7:34pm</time><address><a>Paolo Mariano</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Phoenix Suns guard Cameron Payne is one of the best feel-good stories in the NBA. It’s no secret that he almost got banished from the league after short stints with several teams.</p><p>But while his rejuvenated NBA career was because of his pure determination and relentless pursuit, Payne could also credit former Suns superstar Penny Hardaway for helping him regain his footing. Former Coach of the Year Sam Mitchell, who served as Hardaway’s assistant coach at Memphis University in 2018-2019, saw firsthand how Payne was supported by the NBA legend (via <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/sam-mitchell-on-how-penny-hardaway-saved-cameron-paynes-nba-career/">Basketball Network</a>).</p><blockquote>“I saw this young man hit the bottom, and I saw every day with no fanfare him coming to the gym at the University of Memphis and working with Penny Hardaway. So it does not surprise me—his attitude is 100% better, his conditioning and the fact he’s seizing the moment and his humility.”</blockquote><p>Payne, who was born in Memphis, didn’t have much confidence during that time, but Mitchell said it was Hardaway who first believed the lefty guard could bounce back and return to the NBA.</p><blockquote>“Cameron Payne was in our gym every day for two hours, working out with Penny Hardaway. He was out of shape. He was overweight. So I asked Penny, ‘P, is he gonna get it back?’ He said, ‘We’re gonna find out.'”</blockquote><p>Now, Payne is an integral part of the Suns, playing the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/sports/nba/players/cameron-payne/bdb10a32/stats">best stretch of his NBA career</a>. He will be a free agent in the offseason and could attract many suitors.</p><p>Hardaway, meanwhile, also has the chance to return to the NBA as he’s reportedly being eyed to coach his other former squad, Orlando Magic.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

2024-25 SEASON STATS
PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL
8.0	1.8	3.0	0.3	0.6

2024-25 SEASON STATS
PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL
8.0	1.8	3.0	0.3	0.6

Cameron Payne news

Cameron
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