Former Phoenix Suns guard Cameron Payne has signed with Anadolu Efes SK, the Turkish basketball team announced Oct. 3 on X.
Payne played four seasons (2019-23) for the Suns. The 6-foot-2-inch point guard averaged a career-high 9.8 points in Phoenix as he was part of three playoff teams.
The Suns reached the 2021 finals and won a franchise-record 64 games in 2021-22 with Payne a spark off the bench. He posted 29 points and nine assists in Chris Paul's absence in Game 2 of the 2021 Western Conference Finals, leading the Suns to a 104-103 win over the Los Angeles Clippers to take a 2-0 series lead.
Paul was in the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Phoenix won the game on Deandre Ayton's epic "Valley-Oop," but Payne led the Suns to victory.
🤩 Ailemize hoş geldin Cameron Payne!
— Anadolu Efes SK (@AnadoluEfesSK) October 3, 2026
💫 NBA’de uzun yıllar forma giyen ve geçtiğimiz sezon Partizan’da mücadele eden deneyimli oyun kurucu Cameron Payne ile 2026-2027 sezonunun sonuna kadar sözleşme imzaladık!
Welcome to your new family Cameron! #SahayaHükmet #RuleTheCourt pic.twitter.com/XopUswWy8p
Payne scored a playoff-career high of 31 points in his final game with the Suns, which ended in a 125-100 road loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 6 of the 2023 conference semifinals.
The Nuggets won the series in six as they proceeded to win an NBA championship.
Payne will also be remembered in Phoenix for his arrest on June 14, 2024, for giving a false name, Terry Johnson, when the police came to his Scottsdale home in response to a 9-1-1 call he made for a disturbance with his girlfriend.
He later played for the New York Knicks in 2024-25 and saw action with the Philadelphia 76ers last season.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Former Phoenix Suns guard signs with Turkish basketball team
