NBA: Ranking all 30 starting point guards for 2018-19

27. Elfrid Payton, New Orleans Pelicans

Elfrid Payton is the quintessential “decent raw numbers, horrendous impact” player. Coming into the 2014 NBA Draft, Payton was projected to be a defensive menace, facilitator and all-around star-caliber guard if he could just develop a respectable outside jumper.

Four years into his NBA career, that jumper hasn’t materialized, the court vision hasn’t progressed beyond above-average and his absent-minded defense might be the the worst aspect of his game. The record will show he shot 37.3 percent from 3 with the Orlando Magic last year, and that he averaged decent numbers with the Suns, but once again, his teams were better without him.

At some point, his youth and upside — he’s still only 24 years old — won’t be enough. That point might be coming with the New Orleans Pelicans, where the only thing saving him from being ranked lower than a healthy Brandon Knight is the abundance of talent around him that will make his job easier. On a one-year minimum contract, this may be Payton’s last chance to convince anyone he’s a starter in this league.