Sacramento is still looking for the right veteran point guard to back up their star rookie, Darius Acuff.
Elfrid Payton is going to get that chance after signing a one-year, non-guaranteed contract to come to the Kings’ training camp, reports Michael Scotto of Hoopshype.
Payton will be competing with Ben Simmons — also on a one-year, non-guaranteed deal — for that backup point guard role. It’s also fair to say Simmons is the likely frontrunner in that race.
Payton has nine seasons of NBA experience, but has played just 24 games in the league over the past four seasons and was not in the NBA last season. The 32-year-old point guard last played in the 2024-25 NBA season, splitting 24 games between New Orleans and Charlotte, and averaging 3.5 points and 6.9 assists a game, but he was never an elite scorer and shot just 32.8% from the floor that season.
That said, he’s getting a chance as the Kings look for the right fit.
Sacramento has just 13 standard contracts on the roster and will bring in someone as a backup point guard to fill the 14th roster spot. Theoretically, they could keep both Simmons and Payton (or another player) on the roster to get to 15 players, but that would leave the team less than half a million below the luxury tax and with less flexibility to approach trades. The Kings will likely enter the season with a 14-man roster.
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