Cam Payne (PG, PHO) - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 8

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 22% of leagues

ANALYSIS: With Chris Paul still nurturing a knee injury, Cam Payne keeps eating minutes as the Phoenix Suns starting point guard. And judging by the Suns league-leading 15-7 record it's not that they are probably mad at Payne's production.

CP3 missed Friday's game against the Rockets and is still questionable to return on Sunday. Meanwhile, Payne logged a ridiculous 37 minutes against Houston, and although Phoenix surprisingly dropped that one by one point, Payne had his best fantasy outing of the season putting up a 20-1-12-4 line and getting his second double-double of the year.

Payne scored 20 points, hit four 3-point shots, and dished out a season-high 12 dimes to go with a (tying) season-high 4 steals (he already stole as many balls on Oct. 30). That type of line might read like an outlier but that's not been the case when Payne has started games in Paul's absence.

The guard has scored 10+ points in nine of the 12 games since he became a starter and is averaging 16 PPG in that span (from Nov. 9 on). He's hit at least one 3-point shot in all of those games except one and is actually averaging 2.4 3PM a pop in that 12-game run.

Something similar happens on all other statistical fronts with the dimes sitting at an average of 7+ APG in the last 12 games and 8+ in the last two weeks of play exclusively, and the steals at 1+ SPG since becoming a starter.

The shooting hash sucked a bit of late from the floor with Payne finishing four of his last six games hoisting 10+ shots but scoring hitting paydirt with fewer than 34% of them. When he's wet, he's wet though as his 58.3 and 66.7 percent shooting from the field in the games against Detroit on Nov. 25 and Houston last Friday show.

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