Arguably no prospect has seen his draft stock rise over the last couple of months than Murray State point guard Cameron Payne. The sophomore has gone from a late-first round pick to reportedly receiving a promise from a team in the late lottery and he may not last that long.
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Payne is now widely considered the clear third-best point guard in the draft after Emmanuel Mudiay and D’Angelo Russell and according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, Payne now has workouts scheduled with the Los Angeles Lakers as well as another top-five team:
Rising lottery pick Cameron Payne, a Murray State PG, has upcoming workouts scheduled with Lakers (2nd pick) & Knicks (4th), a source says.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) June 6, 2015
Payne has a lot of tools to offer teams both offensively and defensively. He does a great job of balancing scoring and passing as a true point guard. He is a great shooter with excellent range, as well as advanced court vision and passing skills that allow him to set up teammates regularly.
Defensively, his wingspan and anticipation allow him to come up with a number of steals and he possesses the lateral quickness necessary to keep most guards in front of him. Overall, he averaged 20.3 points, 6.0 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in being named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year.
The Lakers would seem to be out of his range as number two is too high for him and he will be well gone by the time the Lakers pick again at 27. However, many things can happen before and during the draft and the Lakers are being wise by doing their homework on every prospect available.
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