Heavy and CelticsBlog analyst Adam Taylor would prefer to see the Boston Celtics hand a role to fourth-year Oregon product Payton Pritchard over recently waived veteran free agent Cameron Payne — sharing as much via Twitter/X.
Maybe I’m sentimental, but I would rather give Pritchard the 3rd guard role, after his minutes were slashed last season, than bring in Payne and relegate Pritchard back to the bench.
— Adam Taylor (@AdamTaylorNBA) September 12, 2023
PP played a bench role on a finals team, as a sophomore in the league.
“Maybe I’m sentimental, but I would rather give Pritchard the third guard role, after his minutes were slashed last season, than bring in Payne and relegate Pritchard back to the bench,” Taylor wrote. “PP played a bench role on a finals team, as a sophomore in the league.”
Payne was waived by the San Antonio Spurs on September 11 after being traded to the Alamo City, along with a 2025 second-round pick via the New Orleans Pelicans and cash considerations, back in July. The Suns moved on from Payne in order to open up cap space to sign a slew of free agents like Eric Gordon, Bol Bol, and Yuta Watanabe, among others.
Boston Celtics not a likely landing spot for Cameron Payne
Luckily for Taylor and every other fan of Pritchard, the Boston Celtics are not one of the teams most likely to land Payne off of waivers. Instead, teams with a high-value traded player exception are most likely to grab Payne. Per HoopsRumors.com, the list (with each team’s highest TPE value) includes:
- Atlanta Hawks: ($23,019,560)
- Brooklyn Nets: ($19,928,571)
- Washington Wizards: ($12,354,400)
- Chicago Bulls: ($10,232,559)
- Miami Heat: ($9,450,000)
- Portland Trail Blazers: ($8,300,000)
- Indiana Pacers: ($7,493,593)
- Memphis Grizzlies: ($7,492,540)
- New York Knicks: ($6,803,012)
Boston could decide to keep their last roster spot open ahead of the season, waiting to add the right win-now needle-mover when the time strikes. With that said, they are going to decide on their third and final two-way contract spot — with the two options being DJ Steward and Taylor Funk — by the end of training camp.
Payne, evidently, doesn’t appear to be the kind of free agent that’ll break the mold for Brad Stevens and the rest of the Celtics front office.