A Salute to the Recently Traded OKC Thunder Players – Payne, Morrow and Lauvergne
Cameron Payne:
Until last week, 22-year-old Cameron Payne had only ever worn an Oklahoma City uniform. Either in the form of the OKC Thunder, or the Blue (the Thunder’s development team), Payne has played for Oklahoma since he was drafted in 2015.
He made his league debut on November 1, 2015. About a month later, he was assigned to the Blue, then recalled a day later. A week passed, and Payne was back on the Blue, only to be recalled the next day.
Related: Shall We Dance?
The back-and-forth was due, in part, to numerous injuries that sidelined him for much of the season. In July, Payne had surgery to mend a fractured metatarsal in his right foot. Though he recovered and was cleared for full-contact games, he re-injured his foot only two months later.
After bouncing back to the Blue one last time, Payne finally made his season debut for the Thunder on January 7.
Before leaving, Payne averaged 5.3 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 2 assists per game, with 20 games played this season.
Due to his position behind Russell Westbrook, the Thunder organization has been cited as believing this trade will benefit Payne just as much the team back home in Oklahoma:
The Thunder believe Payne is going to be a big time player, but playing behind Westbrook, wouldn't develop into the player he's capable of.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) February 23, 2017
One thing is certain: we will all miss his pregame dances with Russell Westbrook. It just won’t be the same without him.
Moving forward, will there ever be another player who brings out the fun loving side of Westbrook so demonstratively? That in itself may have been Payne’s truest accomplishment.