Knicks' Cam Payne hustling to regain a spot in NBA
Knicks' Cam Payne dives for the ball during the second half of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. Credit: AP/Pamela Smith
GREENBURGH — The starters were all in street clothes Tuesday night for the Knicks and most of the attention was on the trio of rookies given their chance to show what they can do. And somewhere in between was Cam Payne.
The 30-year-old point guard, entering his 10th season in the NBA, was once one of those promising rookies. Payne was the 14th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. So maybe you might have expected him to be resting with the veterans, too. But instead he was on the floor for 36 minutes. He was diving across the floor for a loose ball as he forced a turnover, scoring 16 points and handing out eight assists to help the Knicks bench pieces beat the Charlotte Hornets.
“Any game I go play I’m playing hard, all-out,” Payne said. “That’s just my identity, my character. So if they see me do it, the old guy, obviously it’ll ignite them to do the same thing. But that’s how I approach every game. I’m trying to win it. Whatever I’ve got to do to help my team win. If that means get on the floor, take a charge, whatever the case may be, that’s what I’m out there to do.”
“You can’t help but learn from that,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Those type of hustle plays . . . like they do nothing but unite and inspire the team. When a play like that happens, it brings energy to the group. We need a team full of guys willing to do that.”
It’s how Payne wound up in New York, the latest stop on a long journey from that Draft Day. He’d shuttled from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Chicago Bulls and a 10-day contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers and a preseason deal with the Toronto Raptors with stops in the G League along the way. And finally, waived from his NBA deal, he signed with the Shanxi Loongs of the Chinese Basketball Association.
He spent just two months there before returning to the G League and working his way back into the league. And by doing things like he did Tuesday is how he assures himself that he will never go back.
“Absolutely. 100%,” Payne said. “I’d say the biggest experience was me getting waived and going overseas . . . and then my thing, I was just like, I’m never going back overseas. I credit getting on the floor, doing the little things that people don’t do. I just take that to the game every night. I don’t want to go back overseas. So that’s why I say that’s my identity. I’m going to go and play my heart out and do whatever I’ve got to do to help the team win.
“You kind of take little things for granted. Over there in China you’ve got to take your jerseys to the game, take your shoes,” he added. Payne pointed out that players do their own laundry on uniforms unlike the carefully tended to status in the NBA. “You know what I’m saying? Flying commercial. So I mean it’s just cool to be back in the league and just knowing things that can get taken away from you and it kind of sucks. But it was a humbling experience. And it got me back here and I know what it takes to stay here.”
Notes & quotes: Landry Shamet was at the facility with his right arm in a sling after suffering what appeared to be a dislocated shoulder Wednesday. Thibodeau said that Shamet was still meeting with doctors and determining the severity of the injury and would not comment on his roster status until all the information was in.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
