Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Cameron Payne was born on August 8, 1994, in Bartlett, Tennessee. He is a guard in the NBA.

Payne attended Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, Tennessee. He grew from 5'5' as a freshman to 6'0 as a senior. Despite leading Lausanne Collegiate to a 2013 Division II state title in Tennessee, Payne was not a heavily scouted player by collegiate programs. He was considered to be a three-star recruit by Rivals.com and was not ranked in the top 100 prospects. He was recruited by William Small to play college basketball at Murray State, choosing the Racers over a few other schools. Payne then went from a little-known college recruit to a potential NBA lottery pick.

As a freshman, Payne averaged 16.8 points, 5.4 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. He was forced to start at point guard as a freshman due to an injury to Zay Jackson, and began his collegiate career registering 21 points, five boards and four assists in the team's opener at Valparaiso. Payne earned first-team All-OVC honors and was named freshman of the year by the conference. As a sophomore, he was the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year after he averaged 20.2 points, 6.0 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. Payne opted to declare for the NBA Draft after his sophomore season.

On June 25, 2015 Payne was selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the 14th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft.

On June 30, 2020, Payne agreed to a two-season deal with the Phoenix Suns.