EuroLeague team Partizan Belgrade has expressed “serious” interest in free agent point guard Cameron Payne, reports Marc Stein of The Stein Line (via Twitter).
As Stein notes, the Serbian club is looking for a backcourt replacement in the wake of a serious ankle injury to former NBA guard Carlik Jones, who will reportedly miss three months of action.
Payne has spent most of the past 10 seasons in the NBA after being selected No. 14 overall in 2015. He appeared in 72 regular season games with the Knicks in 2024/25, averaging 6.9 PPG and 2.8 APG in 15.1 MPG.
The 31-year-old went unsigned for nearly the entire offseason prior to catching on with Indiana on October 9. However, Payne didn’t play well during the preseason, and the Pacers decided to waive him before ’25/26 began even though they had (and still have) several backcourt injuries.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Four-year NBA veteran Braxton Key, who spent all of training camp and the preseason with Memphis before being cut last week, has officially signed a rest-of-season deal with Valencia Basket, the Spanish team announced in a press release (hat tip to Eurohoops). The 28-year-old forward was named G League Defensive Player of the Year last season and finished out ’24/25 on a standard contract with Golden State.
- Sonia Raman, who was an assistant coach with the Grizzlies from 2020-24 prior to spending last season as an assistant with the WNBA’s New York Liberty, has agreed to a multiyear contract to become the Seattle Storm’s new head coach, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The Storm also compete in the WNBA.
- John Hollinger of The Athletic lists 12 players he believes are primed for breakout seasons, including younger stars like Spurs center Victor Wembanyama and Lakers guard Luka Doncic, as well as more under-the-radar players such as Raptors big man Sandro Mamukelashvili and Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon Jr. A pair of young Wizards wings — Cam Whitmore and Kyshawn George — are also breakout candidates, according to Hollinger.
how does an all star player have a break out season?
Hollinger’s logic:
“Is a ‘breakout year’ really possible when you’re already a superstar? I’m going to say yes.
“There are levels to this, of course. Still, a player ascending from top-15 or top-10-ish status in the league to a legit MVP candidate is arguably an even more difficult, more challenging and vertiginous jump than making the leap from random scrub to solid starter. The player might only move up past a few other players in the elite pecking order, but the degree of difficulty is off the charts.”
I can agree with this type of thinking for sure. Though the argument as you said becomes much more difficult for players like Luka or Wemby who are certainly top 10 probably more top 6-7. You do typically tend to think of breakout players as guys who are less appreciated or less thought of even if they’re solid players jumping from say top 50 to top 25 (just as an example). But if you’re say Victor Wembanyama and you leapfrog the likes of Luka, SGA and Giannis by seasons end in terms of value, then yeah its a breakout season.
I’m not sure Wemby and Luca can have “breakout” seasons as at this point they’re very well known commodities. I’m a wiz guy so I agree that Kyshawn is definitely a candidate.
Cason Wallace and Ajay Mitchell are others who may have a huge impact on the Thunder attempting a repeat by showing their individual improvements. While its less of a breakout year for Alpheren Sengun as he’s been a high level player for years now, I think this is the year he starts becoming a household name. Watched eurobasket this year and he was THE guy to watch. Dominick Barlow has been a guy I’ve been keeping an eye on in recent years, very talented. He unfortunately got injured today, I think it was a laceration on the elbow but hopefully that proves to be a nothing burger, he’s another one of those guys that if you see him go off you’re like “I mean I’m not surprised, he’s got some talent but just hasn’t had the opportunity.”
One last guy that has been pretty good but also isn’t a household name having only played a season in its entirety maybe once is Trey Murphy III. The Pels based on talent should be a decent enough team to challenge for a playoff spot. Admittedly I’m not overly familiar with the franchise or players outside of Poole(ex-wizard) and Queen(former Terp) so I’m not super informed on how well Willie Green runs a team as the head coach but he has been a part of two championship teams and that has to count for something.
Wemby and Luka are laughable as breakout players. That post isn’t even worth wasting time on yada yada Yada blah blah blah