JULY 17: The trade is official, the Suns PR department tweets. The Spurs have also confirmed the deal, announcing in a press release that the pick they acquired from Phoenix is the Pelicans’ 2025 second-rounder. San Antonio surrendered a protected 2024 second-rounder in the swap.
JULY 16: The Suns have agreed to trade point guard Cameron Payne to the Spurs, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who reports that San Antonio will also acquire a second-round pick and cash in the deal.
Confirming Charania’s report, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link) says Phoenix will receive a future second-round pick in the swap. That selection will be protected, sources tell Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link).
Payne, whose name had popped up in trade rumors as of late, appeared in 48 games for the Suns last season, averaging 10.3 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.2 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .415/.368/.766.
Following Phoenix’s trade of Chris Paul earlier in the offseason, Payne had his $6.5MM salary for 2023/24 guaranteed and looked like he’d get a chance to vie for the final spot in the team’s starting lineup, alongside Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and Deandre Ayton.
Instead, the Suns are offloading the veteran guard in order to open up a spot on the roster for Bol Bol, who has agreed to sign a one-year deal with the club. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) suggests that Payne would’ve been behind Jordan Goodwin on the depth chart, so the team was comfortable moving him.
According to Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype (via Twitter), the move from Payne to Bol will reduce Phoenix’s projected luxury tax penalty by approximately $18MM and will generate a $6.5MM trade exception for the team. ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link) estimates that the tax savings will be $26.4MM. Still, it’s a little odd to see the Suns essentially dumping Payne’s contract when it had only been partially guaranteed (for $2MM) until June 29.
The Spurs, who will absorb Payne’s $6.5MM salary into their cap room, will still have a little over $5MM in space available once the trade is official, tweets Gozlan.
It remains to be seen whether San Antonio envisions Payne opening the 2023/24 season with the team — once Tre Jones and Sandro Mamukelashvili officially sign their agreed-upon deals and the Spurs acquire Payne, they’ll have 18 players on standard contracts. They’ll have to reduce that number to 15 ahead of opening night in October.
I am aware that the off season roster counts cap at 21 … but is there a specific limitation on how teams can fill those roster spots during the summer? For example, do 3 of those spots have to be filled with Exhibit 10 deals … or could a team like the Spurs simply carry up to the full 21 on standard contracts all summer if they wanted, as long as they trim down to the max of 18 (15 standard, 3 two way) by opening day?
Teams have to have a certain number of players on standard contracts before they can start signing players to Exhibit 10s. And of course they can’t have more than three two-ways.
But if they want to carry 21 on guaranteed contracts, they’re allowed to do that during the offseason.
Thanks for the clarification.
“Still, it’s a little odd to see the Suns essentially dumping Payne’s contract when it had only been partially guaranteed (for $2MM) until June 29.”
You can eat 2M in dead money plus 8-10M in tax, or have a 6.5M trade exception to acquire another player at the deadline. Perhaps they determined that to be worth giving up cash and a 2nd for.
Spurs and Pistons are the league’s dumping ground for expiring deals.
Spurs have done really well this off-season getting assets and players that can be flipped into more assets.
Thunder say hi.
At least Payne has some value. A decent 3pt shooting back up point guard that can score and assist has great value especially on a cheap expiring contract.
They can carry 15 standard and 3 2-way contracts in the regular season. I don’t think the Spurs can convert any of these to 2-way deals. Meaning they’ll have have to unload at least 3 players. A 3 or 4 for 1 deal for a marquis player would be nice but who really wants the Spurs junk that much? More likely they can trade a guy or 2 for draft capital and dump 1 or 2. If the G-league were a true minor league they could stash the extras until injuries opened up room for them. That however would require a new competitive bargaining agreement . I don’t think the Spurs can expect that to happen by fall. The Spurs will be better but so will every team in their division.
Berch, Stevenson will be cuts bringing roster down to 16. Curious to see who last cut will be or if they plan a consolidation trade.
Cedi i believe is partially guaranteed. I didn’t see if it was fully guaranteed yet. He may be the last. I also wonder once the dame Lillard trade happens the heat will probably be short a player or two. Possible the spurs want to get involved to throw a couple fillers to heat for roster and gain another asset or two.
Hey remember when you idixts thought Cam Payne was a bust?
No, because only an idiot like you would think that the 14th pick in the draft could be a bust. In order to be a “bust” you should be at least a top 5 pick.
I would think any pick that failed to convey its slot value is a bust.
I mean he was out of the league really quick and it took a world lockdown to get him back in it
He was out of the league due to injuries, not lack of skill/talent.
The word bust is almost as overused as goat in basketball conversation.
I find it odd. Payne had largely played well in PHX, certainly at or above his salary level. The TPE is small, and the few quality rotation players who make that amount are unlikley to be available for the meager trade assets PHX has left.
Then again, this is the second (reported) attempt they’ve made to move him and his relatively small contract. Yet, no takers other than the SAS for a price to take him.
I think Ishbia wanted to come in and just make big moves but now when he’s seeing the tax bills, he’s having second thoughts and wants to cut costs where he can.
But I agree with you, Payne is not the type of player you usually see in a salary dump, he’s actually still serviceable.
Payne won’t have the role he would like in this new look lineup, and the Suns feel that they can get similar production for the minimum. They have Jordan Goodwin, and wanted TJ McConnell for playmaking, tenacious defense, and IQ. He would be a far better fit as backup PG on a roster that has enough scorers.
When that didn’t work out, and the Suns didn’t like anyone else who was available for Payne, they pivoted to this. As I stated above, I feel that the Suns simply didn’t want to pay him not to play for them, so guaranteed his salary in order to trade him and found this to be the best alternative available.
Whoever they can get with the TPE is just icing on the cake because they’ll have to pay tax on that too.
Needing to clear a spot for bol bol kinda handcuffed them. They had to trade to a team that could absorb the money. Spurs cashed in here. Payne will help the youngster’s a lot and if they flip him they should gain another guy or pick.
Payne is one of the better back PGs in the league on reasonable salary. Phoenix needs bench depth badly. This move makes no sense to me.
Stay humble.
The ultimate modern team. 15 players, 11 of whom are minimum salary or two-ways. Gonna break out to big leads with the starters, then hold their breath while the bench loses them. Try and win in the 4th.
This is not gonna work.