Philadelphia made some moves Monday to help solidify and add depth to its roster for the final 30 games of the playoffs.
The first is signing veteran point guard Cameron Payne for the remainder of the season, something first reported by Marc Stein of The Stein Line. Payne played 10 seasons in the NBA – he played in 72 games for the Knicks last season, averaging 15 minutes and 6.9 points per night – but couldn’t land a contract this season, so he signed to play with Partizan Belgrade in Serbia, where he averaged 12.4 points and 3.9 assists, but in just 10 games. The team agreed to release him.
Partizan Belgrade will receive $1.75 million in the buyout, according to Stein, but under the terms of the CBA, the 76ers can only contribute $875,000 of that sum.
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Philadelphia has All-Star Tyrese Maxey at this time, but is a little thin at guard after trading Jared McCain to Oklahoma City at the deadline. Payne offers depth that coach Nick Nurse can trust.
The other deal was much simpler: moving Jabari Walker from a two-way contract to a standard two-year contract, a broken story by ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Walker played in 45 games for the 76ers this season, starting six and giving the team solid rotation minutes at four. He was up against the 50-game two-way contract limit and the Sixers did well to lock him up. It is very likely that the second year of this contract is not (or poorly) guaranteed.
