{"id":131932,"date":"2025-03-31T14:15:48","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T18:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=131932"},"modified":"2025-03-31T14:15:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T18:15:48","slug":"pelicans-bring-back-elfrid-payton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/31\/pelicans-bring-back-elfrid-payton\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelicans Bring Back Veteran, Standard Contract Incoming?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With just 13 days remaining in the 2024-25 regular season, the New Orleans Pelicans and point guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/paytoel01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elfrid Payton<\/a> have agreed to a second 10-day contract, per HoopsHype insider Shams Charania. The eight-year NBA veteran signed his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/pelicans\/news\/elfird-payton-guard-signed-10-day-contract-new-orleans-pelicans-roster-march-21-2025\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first 10-day contract<\/a> with the Pelicans on March 21. However, this is actually the fifth contract that Payton has signed with New Orleans since last October.<\/p>\n<h2>Pelicans Bring Back Elfrid Payton<\/h2>\n<p>His initial contract was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/19\/pelicans-sign-elfrid-payton-ahead-training-camp\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">an Exhibit 10 deal<\/a> that he signed during the preseason. The Louisiana native was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/17\/pelicans-elfrid-payton-among-recently-waived-players\/\" target=\"_self\">waived shortly after<\/a>, but he then <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/20\/pelicans-sign-free-agent-point-guard-elfrid-payton\/\" target=\"_self\">signed a standard contract<\/a> with the Pelicans on Nov. 20 in order to fortify their injury-plagued point guard corps. After <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murrade01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dejounte Murray<\/a> returned from his hand fracture, he was then released again.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The New Orleans have agreed to a second 10-day contract with Elfrid Payton, Senior VP of <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CSETalent?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CSETalent<\/a> Darrell Comer told <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hoopshype?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@hoopshype<\/a>. Payton recently had 14 assists in a win against the Philadelphia 76ers and 10 assists against the Golden State Warriors. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MzieMXteD1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/MzieMXteD1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeAScotto\/status\/1906708729040429120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 31, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Two months later, Payton signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Charlotte Hornets.<\/p>\n<p>Similar to the Pelicans&#8217; situation, both their starting (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/ballla01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LaMelo Ball<\/a>) and second-string point guard (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/manntr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tre Mann<\/a>) were dealing with injuries. However, unlike New Orleans, Charlotte has a couple of playmaking guards on two-way contracts in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simpskj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">KJ Simpson<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/baughda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Damion Baugh<\/a>. The Pelicans&#8217; two-way spots are occupied by forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cainja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jamal Cain<\/a>, wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/q\/quinole01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lester Quinones<\/a>, and forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brookke02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Keion Brooks Jr.<\/a>, who recently led them to a victory against the Hornets with a career-high 17 points.<\/p>\n<p>In New Orleans&#8217; weekend win, Payton recorded six assists, two steals, and one block in 19 minutes. In the two preceding games, he recorded 24 total assists. As a scorer, he leaves a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, he was a +11 during that stretch because of his pace and playmaking. His performance hearkens back to Nov. 25, when he recorded a career-high 21 assists while playing for the Pelicans.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Elfrid Payton dished it out all over the court!<\/p>\n<p>His 21 AST is a new NBA season-high and a new career-high \ud83d\udd25 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RpVFI4TMi7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/RpVFI4TMi7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA (@NBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1861246031087771990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>That being said, it says a lot that they decided to bring Payton back this close to the end of the season. At 21-54, 14th in the West, they could just roll with the players that they already have. Instead, they figured they should keep around a 31-year-old floor general that was out of the league for two seasons.<\/p>\n<h3>Standard Contract Incoming?<\/h3>\n<p>Why not keep Payton around longer?<\/p>\n<p>At this point it&#8217;s clear that he has great on-court chemistry with the Pelicans, whether it&#8217;s just his nature or there&#8217;s more to it. His career path is also notable because not many players have made it back to the NBA.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of his intangibles, this would only make Payton more humble and serious. Just as important as how that affects the way he approaches his career is how it can rub off on his teammates. Payton&#8217;s evidence of both the reality that their career could end prematurely and the possibility that their hard work and perseverance ultimately pays off.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, players may know that in the back of their mind. Nonetheless, being teammates with someone who was in that situation will leave a more firm impact on their psyche. That could be a big-time difference-maker. Just consider, Murray needs to bounce back from an arduous season. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willizi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zion Williamson<\/a> looks like he&#8217;s in great shape again but his discipline is still questioned.<\/p>\n<p>Seeing Payton in the locker room might not change anything for them. But then again, it could.<\/p>\n<div class=\"modal-image-setImageMetadata\">\n<p class=\"ng-binding\">\u00a9 Stephen Lew-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With just 13 days remaining in the 2024-25 regular season, the New Orleans Pelicans and point guard Elfrid Payton have agreed to a second 10-day contract, per HoopsHype insider Shams Charania. The eight-year NBA veteran signed his first 10-day contract with the Pelicans on March 21. However, this is actually the fifth contract that Payton [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":131961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62],"tags":[1262,475,4975,4745,1684],"class_list":["post-131932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-dejounte-murray","tag-elfrid-payton","tag-nba-contracts","tag-nba-injuries","tag-zion-williamson"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131932"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131962,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131932\/revisions\/131962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}