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Payton agreed to a one-year contract with the Pelicans on Wednesday, Shams Charania of ESPN reports.
Payton attended training camp with the Pelicans but missed out on a spot on the season-opening 15-man roster when he was cut Oct. 16. The Pelicans retained Payton's G League rights, but he never took part in any games with the Birmingham Squadron before New Orleans ultimately elected to add him to the roster. The Pelicans will waive guard Jaylen Nowell to make room for Payton, who will provide New Orleans with a more traditional backup option at point guard while both Dejounte Murray (hand) and Jose Alvarado (hamstring) are sidelined. The No. 10 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Payton was a teammate of current Pelicans head coach Willie Green in Orlando to begin his career and previously appeared in 42 games with the Pelicans in the 2018-19 season. Payton's most recent NBA action came back in 2020-21, when he averaged 11.0 minutes in 50 appearances for Phoenix.
