On March 10, Beijing time, the Suns ushered in the focus of the match with the Heat, facing the top team in the East, the Suns are not timid, even if Paul continues to be absent due to injury, but with the excellent play of Booker who has just returned and Ayton, the Suns also won the fourth victory in the past 5 games with a light victory in the past 5 games. And in this game instead of Paul to continue to serve as the team's starting No. 1 Payne, also handed over two double-double data, although the feel is not good, only 4 of 13 shots, but still easily scored 11 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, filling their own data column.
Because Paul was reimbursed for the regular season because of his thumb injury, coach Monty Williams also simply let Payne sit in the starting point guard position, and the latter also played an excellent performance with great contention, in the 5 games that replaced Paul as the starter, Payne could average 14.8 points and 10.8 assists per game, and the three-point shooting rate was as high as 38.5%, and what was even more surprising was that Payne's average turnover per game was only 2.8 times, and it was indeed valuable to maintain such an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio. After reaching a three-year, 19 million renewal with the Suns in the offseason last year, Payne also knew he needed to step up at a critical moment to help the team score.
The Morant college brother (both from Murray State University) was picked by the "NBA Whampoa Military Academy" Thunder with the 14th pick in the first round of the draft as early as 2015, but unfortunately, in this team with a lot of people in the backcourt, Payne really has no presence on the court except for the picture of dancing with Westbrook before the game starts. After being traded to the Bulls by the Thunder, although Payne once played a good statistic of 8.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists, but Lavin's injury returned, Payne could only continue to "displace", once again opened his own wandering mode, after playing 9 games for the Cavaliers in the 18-19 season, the desperate Payne decided to bring his talent to the CBA, joined the Shanxi men's basketball team, and replaced Franklin, who suffered an injury at the time.
Payne, who only played 2 games in the CBA, handed over 22.5 points, 6 rebounds and 7.5 assists, and also completed his own firefighting mission, after being abandoned by Shanxi, Payne decided to return to the United States and went to play for the Texas Legends team that developed the league, in this "dimensionality reduction blow" stage, Payne averaged 24 points per game, in the summer league at the time, Payne was also invited by the Lone Ranger, but when the season officially began, the Lone Ranger did not choose to sign a contract with Payne. Instead, he targeted Trey Burke.
Coinciding with the NBA's new crown epidemic at that time, the league decided to restart the schedule in Disney's closed park after a period of suspension, and a number of players in the team did not want to go to disney's sun, but also extended an olive branch to Payne, seized this opportunity, he really did not disappoint the team, in those 8 games, averaged 10.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3 assists per game, and received an official base salary contract for the team in the offseason.
After the plot we all know, last season as the Suns to the finals of the odds, Payne more than once in the key moments to play an important role in the team, and finally won a multi-year contract offered to him by the team, and now continues to serve as Paul's chief substitute, Payne is already an indispensable and important puzzle for this Sun, if the team wants to reach the finals again, Payne is really indispensable.