Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Cameron Payne will miss Game 1 of his team's first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday due to a hip injury.
Continue for updates.
Payne Dealing With Hip Soreness
Saturday, April 16
ESPN.com's Royce Young relayed the update prior to tipoff.
Payne averaged only 12.2 minutes per game during the regular season, but that number ticked up down the stretch as head coach Billy Donovan trusted him with a larger role. In five April appearances, Payne averaged 18.1 minutes while totaling 7.4 points and 3.0 assists per game.
In terms of temporary replacements, veteran Randy Foye could be Donovan's preferred answer.
Although Foye is conventionally deployed as a shooting guard, he's played 31 percent of his minutes at the 1 since the Thunder acquired him at the February trade deadline, per Basketball-Reference.com.
The Thunder could also opt to let Kevin Durant and Dion Waiters initiate more sets so long as Payne is forced to watch from the bench.
But regardless of which way Donovan ulti ...
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Article written by Alec Nathan
Cameron Payne Injury: Updates on Thunder Guard’s Hip and Return
April 16th, 2016 by Alec Nathan Leave a reply »
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