Elfrid Payton Is the Latest Veteran Sacramento Is Hoping Has Something Left

Sacramento signed Elfrid Payton on Tuesday, adding the former 10th overall pick from the 2014 draft to a backcourt that now reads like a reunion tour for players the league had largely moved on from. Payton joins Ben Simmons, signed earlier this month to a one-year, $3.5 million deal, and Russell Westbrook in a guard room built almost entirely on reclamation.

It is a small move, and it fits the offseason's logic exactly. The Kings are not building around youth — they traded Devin Carter to Atlanta in July — and they are not paying for certainty. They are collecting veterans on short commitments and betting that enough of them show up healthy and functional to support Zach LaVine.

That last part is still the whole question. As I noted when the Simmons signing came through, this roster makes sense if LaVine plays. Payton's addition does not change that math. What it does is give Sacramento one more experienced hand in the backcourt if injuries — which shadowed this group all summer — thin the rotation again. Westbrook averaged 6.7 assists per game last season and can run a possession; Payton, at his best, was always more facilitator than scorer. The depth is real, even if the ceiling depends entirely on one player staying on the floor.

Training camp opens soon enough. The Kings will find out quickly whether this collection of reclamation projects can hold together long enough to matter.