Orlando Magic: Questioning the Adreian Payne deal

The Orlando Magic continue to add depth to their roster with the signing of Adreian Payne to a two-way deal, but was signing him a positive?

In what has already been a busy offseason for the Orlando Magic, they added yet another player by bringing in Adreian Payne.

The former Minnesota Timberwolves and Atlanta Hawks player won’t be joining the team right away however, as he has signed on a two-way deal.

What this means is that he can spend a maximum of 45 days with the Magic during the season, but will spend the remainder with their G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic.

Payne can also join the Magic’s roster once the G League season has ended and before the start of their training camp.

It’s also worth noting that once the season is done, the team can turn Payne’s deal into a veteran minimum and add him to their team full-time.

While all of this interesting and provides a boost to a Lakeland team that will have some NBA-caliber talent on it, the move honestly throws up many more questions than answers.

For a franchise that has had a productive summer so far, it’s the first real instance where some second guessing should be done, even if this is only a very small deal.

Firstly, why would the Magic waste one of their two-way contracts on a player like Payne?

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This is no disrespect to him personally, but he averaged 3.5 points and 1.8 rebounds last season. He is also joining a team that has frontcourt depth and so he will likely never make the rotation during the year.

Payne could fill out a bench spot for a team light on big men, but shouldn’t the Magic have used these two-way deals on younger, higher risk players?

At 25 years old and with three uninspiring years in the league behind him, you know what you’re going to get with Adreian Payne.

Why not swing for the fences and give these contracts to hungry, undrafted free agents or even a European prospect who has yet to be claimed by another team?

(Quick aside, how much better would Mario Hezonja‘s career have gone to date if he had entered the league to no fanfare and through one of these contracts?).

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Signing Payne to a deal like this feels like a missed opportunity. The Magic may have signed Marreese Speights‘ replacement before he’s ever played a minute for the team.

Speights was signed to a veteran’s minimum deal during the offseason, and he figures to do his best work in the locker room and not on the court.

Nevertheless, he’s taking up one of those roster spots regardless of what he does on the court. It’s also possible he becomes a short-term solution if Nikola Vucevic is traded.

The absolute best-case scenario for Payne is that Speights is not re-signed next summer, allowing him to take his spot.

But is he really the kind of talent that the Magic just can’t afford to be without? There’s every chance a better fit or player comes along than who the team just signed.

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For those who believe this is overthinking the signing of Payne, that he can just be moved on next summer regardless, what does that say about the direction of the organization?

That’s just wasting one of these cool new contracts, which do have their uses, because at the time a better offer wasn’t on the table.

Again, this isn’t a bashing of Payne or his game, it just seems like a lazy fit at a strange time. However, here is a look at what the player can bring to the team.

Two years ago, Payne had a Player Efficiency Rating of 5.6 — an appalling number, considering the league average of 15.

Last season, however, despite only making slight improvements in most areas, that number jumped up to 14.4.

Clearly then, he was doing something right, even if it didn’t always show up in the box score. His effective field goal percentage rising from 39 percent to 45 percent between those two seasons definitely helped.

Having a player who has failed to pan out in the league spend time in the G League will motivate him to want to come back and prove himself even more too.

Payne also represents a much cheaper alternative to Bismack Biyombo, while he’s more experienced than Khem Birch and less injury-prone than Speights. All of these factors could work in his favor, as could the fact he shot 73 percent from the free throw line last year.

Really though, it’s puzzling as to why the Orlando Magic decided to use a two-way deal on Adreian Payne.

There’s plenty of players out there like him, and there are even more younger players with higher upside that the team could’ve looked at.

If he was brought in as a potential replacement or cover for Marreese Speights, well that’s just a little bit strange.

Next: Orlando Magic - Complete 2017 offseason grades

In a summer where the new front office have made smart and understandable moves, adding another big man to split his time between the NBA and G League doesn’t look like it was one of them.