Suns near agreement with Elfrid Payton

The Suns are close to an agreement on a one-year contract with free agent guard Elfrid Payton, Alex Kennedy of Basketball News tweets. Evan Sidery of Basketball News broke the news on the Suns’ negotiations with Payton (Twitter link).

If the contract is finalized, Payton would be signing up for a second stint with the organization. He played 18 games with Phoenix during the 2017/18 season.

Payton started 63 games with the Knicks this past season but his production declined after the All-Star break and he was benched during the first-round playoff series against Atlanta. Payton averaged 10.1 PPG and 3.2 APG in 23.6 MPG during the regular season.

The Western Conference champions have reached agreements with their top two point guards, Chris Paul and Cameron Payne, so Payton would slot in as a third-stringer behind that duo.