Cameron Payne Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Draft Notes: Harley, Brown, Payne

April 15th, 2015 at 4:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

French swingman Kévin Harley is entering this year’s draft, agent Olivier Mazet announced via Twitter (hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The 20-year-old is the 17th-best overseas prospect born in 1994, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, but he’s otherwise unranked by either Givony or Ford. That suggests there’s a strong chance that Harley will withdraw by June 15th, the deadline for international prospects to do so, though that’s just my speculation.

Here’s more new regarding the 2015 NBA draft:

Stanford senior guard Anthony Brown has hired agent Sam Goldfeder of Excel Sports Management, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com tweets. DraftExpress.com ranks Brown as the No. 41 overall prospect and ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) places him 61st.
Murray State sophomore Cameron Payne has hired Travis King of Relativity Sports as his agent, Goodman reports (Twitter link). Payne is the No. 22 ranked prospect by both Ford and Givony.
In a separate article Ford (Insider subscription required) ran down the 10 best international prospects in this year’s draft, including Emmanuel Mudiay, Kristaps Porzingis, and Zhou Qi.
Derek Bodner of USA Today looks at a number of early draft entrants and if they made the correct decision to leave school. You can review the full list of early entrants for the 2015 NBA draft here.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Wolves, Monroe, Noel

April 7th, 2015 at 10:04pm CST by Will Joseph

After the season, Chase Budinger’s contract with the Timberwolves will be down to one year at $5MM and Kevin Martin’s deal will go to two years for $14.4MM, making it easier for Minnesota to find trade partners for both players this summer, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. The Wolves were exploring ways to deal both players, as previous reports indicated and as Deveney confirms. There were conflicting reports about Minnesota’s willingness to trade Martin, but while coach/executive Flip Saunders likes him and won’t give him up easily, the Wolves aren’t expecting significant return for either Martin or Budinger, according to Deveney. In the same story, Deveney notes that the Wolves’ biggest question mark heading into the summer is if Saunders will remain coach or return to solely a front office role.

Here’s more from around the league:

Speaking of the Wolves, they came pretty close to originally signing Arinze Onuaku back in mid-January, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets, but Minnesota instead went with Miroslav Raduljica, who played five games with the team. The Wolves officially inked Onuaku earlier today, a few months later.
Kevin Seraphin, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, told J. Michael of CSNWashington.com that he is adjusting to his smaller role within the second unit. He hasn’t scored more than 12 points in a game since January 19th. The big man said in January that he would like to re-sign with Washington.
Reggie Jackson’s production increased and the Pistons played well without Greg Monroe, who will become an unrestricted free agent after the season, but the team is determined to make things work with the big man expected back on the court Wednesday, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. The Pistons were 7-4 without Monroe. Jackson is a restricted free agent this summer and it’s a distinct possibility that the Pistons will match any potential offer he receives from a different team, so it is much more likely that he is with Detroit next season than Monroe is, Mayo adds.
Cameron Payne, who announced Monday he will enter the draft fresh off finishing up his sophomore season with Murray State, has signed with agent Travis King of Relativity Sports, HoopsHype tweets.
Sixers rookie Nerlens Noel has quickly emerged as one of the league’s top big men because of his defensive efficiency, Wesley Share of RealGM.com writes. Noel, unlike many other rookies who were drafted in the first round, will hit free agency in 2017, and not 2018, because he signed his rookie scale contract before sitting out the entire 2013/14 season with an injury.

Cameron Payne To Enter NBA Draft

April 6th, 2015 at 3:48pm CST by Eddie Scarito

MONDAY, 3:48pm: Payne is indeed entering the draft, he announced at a press conference today, as KFVS-TV relays.

FRIDAY, 4:15pm: Murray State sophomore guard Cameron Payne plans to enter the 2015 NBA draft, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Payne is working toward hiring an agent and formalizing a decision with an expected announcement to come after the NCAA Final Four, Wojnarowski’s sources tell him. Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) lists Payne as the No. 23 overall prospect, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress pegs the guard at 32nd overall.

Some NBA executives from teams expected to pick in the draft lottery told Wojnarowski that they anticipate Payne to be a prospect they will consider selecting in those slots, though most draft projections have Payne listed as a mid-first-rounder. Several NBA executives are comparing his possible climb in the first round to that of Magic guard Elfrid Payton, another smaller school underclassman who rose all the way to the 10th selection in the 2014 draft, the Yahoo! scribe adds.

Payne appeared in 69 games in two seasons for Murray State. The 6’2″ guard’s career numbers are 18.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists in 32.4 minutes per game. His career shooting numbers are .432/.359/.781.

And-Ones: Cavs, Stephenson, Payne, Dekker

March 31st, 2015 at 9:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

J.R. Smith, and not Iman Shumpert, was the player whom LeBron James most wanted the Cavs to obtain from the Knicks, according to Brian WIndhorst of ESPN.com (audio link), who spoke on the B.S. Report podcast with Grantland’s Bill Simmons, as RealGM transcribes. Of course, Cleveland traded for both in the January deal that sent out Dion Waiters.

“He [James] is so excited about the talent on this team,” Windhorst said. “He loves playing with [Timofey] Mozgov. He loves Smith. He was the guy who pushed for that trade. The Cavs were trying to get Iman Shumpert; that’s what the conversations were and of course the Knicks were saying ‘We’ll give you Shumpert, but you have to take J.R.’ They went to LeBron and he said ‘No, you get J.R. and if you get Shumpert with him that’s great.’ He, I think, really loves their top seven.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Lance Stephenson says that despite his struggles during his first season in Charlotte, he doesn’t regret signing with the Hornets, Steve Reed of The Associated Press writes. “I love this system. I love my coaches. I love my teammates,” Stephenson said. “Some people come into systems and fit right in. Some people it takes time. I feel like with me I’m going to take time.” In 58 appearances this season Stephenson has averaged 8.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.1 assists in 26.4 minutes per night.
Murray State sophomore guard Cameron Payne is leaning toward entering this year’s draft, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Payne averaged 20.2 points and 5.7 assists while shooting 37.7% from three-point range this season. The 20-year-old is ranked No. 23 by Chad Ford of ESPN.com and No. 32 by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
New No. 1 prospect Karl-Anthony Towns, Justise Winslow, Frank Kaminsky and Jerian Grant are among those who helped themselves during the second week of the NCAA Tournament, according to Ford, who writes in an Insider-only piece. Still, no prospect has boosted his stock more during the tournament than Sam Dekker, whom Ford believes has risen into the back end of the top 20 prospects.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.