Cameron Payne (PG, PHO) - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 5

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 8% of leagues

ANALYSIS: The injury suffered by Chris Paul on Nov. 7 definitely has to do with Cameron Payne's appeal and recent surge, but it's not that he wasn't useful before Paul went down in the game against Philly. Paul, mind you, was getting 30+ MPG nightly with Payne logging around 16 MPG, so keep that in mind when assessing what might be coming.

Starter-Payne logged 35 minutes on back-to-back games last Wednesday and Friday. He excelled at handling matters dumping 23 and 22 points (4 and 5 triples made) to go with an average of 4.5 RPG, 6 APG, and 1 SPG between those two outings. He put up a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe while hitting 8 FG in each game for shooting percentages north of 47% in the two outings.

Reserve-Payne was averaging half the fantasy points on that role but still putting up a superbly efficient 1.08 FP/min before the last two games. What's more, removing his first two games of the season (Oct. 19/21) from his game log, that average sky-rockets to 1.25 FP/min (league average at 0.90). Just for context, that figure is close to those boasted by the likes of Dame, Fox, Dejounte, and Jrue Holiday.

Sadly, counting stats is tied to playing time in most formats so need guys to stay active on the court to yield some value. Payne will see his upside cut in half when Paul returns but he should still be a viable addition in deeper leagues with some 10-2-3 floor and upside for much more in the event Paul goes down again or just gets his minutes reduced/managed with the risk of injury always floating above him.

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