Chicago Bulls: Takeaways from Cameron Payne injury

Cameron Payne recently underwent foot surgery and will be out of the lineup for 3-4 months. Here’s a look at the main takeaways from this recent development.

Chicago Bulls guard Cameron Payne has not had a great start to his short NBA career. To be honest, it hasn’t been anything close to being remotely good.

In 2015, Payne was taken at No. 14 by the Oklahoma City Thunder on the heels of a sophomore season at Murray State in which he posted averages of 20.2 points and 6.0 assists per contest. Additionally, he shot 46 percent from the field and 38 percent from distance.

Based on the numbers, the Thunder had landed the perfect backup guard to play behind Russell Westbrook. Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan.

During his rookie campaign, Payne averaged included 5.0 points and 1.9 assists per outing on 41 percent shooting. Some would say the drop-off in production was attributed to his lack of playing time, which is a reasonable argument considering he played just 12.2 minutes per game.

But in a somewhat increased role (16 minutes per game) with OKC last season, his production did not increase by a large margin. While his per-game numbers did improve on a small scale (5.3 points and 2.0 assists in 20 contests), his overall shooting numbers plummeted to just 33 percent.

Despite the pedestrian stats, though, the Bulls felt Payne had a high ceiling, which is why they sent Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott to the Thunder in order to make Payne one of the centerpieces of their youth movement.

Not only has Payne failed to live up to expectations, it was recently reported that he will be sidelined for 3-4 months following foot surgery. Here’s a look at what this turn of events could mean for Payne and the Bulls.