Just over a year ago, Cam Payne wasn’t on an NBA roster. Fast-forward 15 months, and his three-year, $19 million deal to re-sign with the Phoenix Suns is one of the league’s biggest steals.

For Payne, there was no question about where he wanted to be as he approached his first free agency.

“I knew from the jump I wanted to come back since the last game of the season,” he said at Media Day. “I knew I wanted to come back. I’m pretty sure everyone kind of felt the same. I had to do the due process, just because it was my first free agency. So obviously I wanted to ask around and just see. But deep down, I knew I wanted to be here and I had a great season with these guys, and I wanted to do it again.”

Now he’ll get his chance to build on the best basketball he’s ever played, on a team that’s just as determined to exceed expectations once again this year.

A LOOK AT CAM PAYNE SO FAR

Cam Payne’s first full season in the Valley was nothing short of a breakout year. Though he only averaged 8.4 points and 3.6 assists in 18 minutes per game, he was hyper-efficient in his role on limited touches.

It was quite a come-up for a guy who was playing in China at the start of 2020. After stints with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, Payne found himself on the Shanxi Loongs overseas. He only played two games for the team, but that experience strengthened his resolve.

“Crazy, crazy journey, but it kind of built me up for the situations that I had and the playoffs,” Payne said. “Just the uncomfortableness of being in Asia, not knowing what I’mma eat, not knowing if I’m playing today, who working me out. Those little things kind of built me to work even harder to not give up anything here in the NBA. So by playing my tail off in the playoffs, every game of the season, it kind of attributed to me playing over there. Like, I got something to prove every time, I’m gonna let y’all know I don’t want to go back over there.”

Payne made the most of his opportunity when an assistant coach from his Thunder days, now in charge of the Phoenix Suns, gave him a call ahead of the NBA bubble in Orlando.

Cam Payne described playing for head coach Monty Williams like “playing for that father that you don’t want to mess up around.” Williams and the Suns were giving him a chance, and he didn’t want to let them down.

“He probably had the biggest role,” Payne answered when asked about his ascendance. “It was like a blessing in disguise, coach Monty coming from OKC. Now that he’s here, and me coming back and being with him, even a year, just me and him coaching, I can’t wait for this season. I think he’s made me the guy I am as well.”

Williams’ familiarity with the young guard’s game paid dividends. Payne and Jevon Carter wreaked havoc off the bench in Orlando, he got his second-year team option picked up, and his journey culminated with a 29-point, 9-assist detonation in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

Everyone remembers the “Valley-Oop” that finished that game off, but no one should forget that the Chris Paul-less Suns never would’ve won if not for Payne’s stunning performance.

It doesn’t feel like anyone has, since his connection with the fanbase and “The Valley” runs deep. Skin deep, in fact.

At training camp, Payne showed off a new tattoo on his leg, with Taz the Tasmanian Devil whirling his way through a desert landscape, basketball in hand, blowing past a little sign that reads “Valley” in the recognizable Valley Boyz font.

“This is basically me,” he explained. “Taz is me. He the haboob. So I kinda embrace that nickname.”

A few weeks ago, Payne threw out the first pitch at an Arizona Diamondbacks game with JaVale McGee. Devin Booker called him afterward to tease him, saying, “Okay, kinda getting blessed into the city now, huh?”

But for Payne, that feeling of acceptance and finally having a basketball home has helped fuel his game too.

“The city embracing me is huge,” he said. “I feel like with the city embracing me, it allows me to play the way I’ve always been playing since I grew up. Even if I do something wrong, I feel like I gotta say something to the crowd, so that’s how much the city embracing me means so much to me. I’m just glad to be back and trying to run this thing back.”

The question is, what does running it back look like? Now that Payne got his first NBA payday that is essentially a team-friendly deal for Phoenix, how does he improve on a career year?

HOW DOES CAM PAYNE BUILD ON HIS LAST CAMPAIGN?

As a shooter, the 27-year-old guard was absolutely lights out last season. He shot 48.4 percent from the floor, 89.3 percent from the foul line and hit 44 percent of his 3s, ranking 10th in the entire NBA in 3-point efficiency.

Payne was deadly off the ball, shooting a staggering 48.9 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s, which put him in the 96th percentile of the league. Out of all players who attempted at least 50 catch-and-shoot 3s, Payne ranked fifth in percentage, and as if that weren’t enough, he hit 43.5 percent of his corner triples (74th percentile).

“The Haboob” was plenty dangerous with the ball too, making 43.3 percent of his pull-ups, including 37.3 percent of his pull-up 3s, which put him in the 77th percentile. Out of all players last year who attempted at least 80 pull-ups, Payne ranked 30th in field-goal percentage, trailing three teammates who were elite in that category: Devin Booker (44.2 percent), Chris Paul (48.3 percent) and Mikal Bridges (51.6 percent).

In the regular season, Payne was also exceptional in the playmaking department. According the The Bball Index, he was terrific in almost every category:

• Assist points per 75 possessions: 95th percentile
• Passing creation volume: 95th percentile
• Passing efficiency: 85th percentile
• Passing creation quality: 72nd percentile
• Assists per 75 possessions: 95th percentile
• Pick-and-roll ball-handler points per possession (PPP): 98th percentile

The problem is, when the playoffs started, the playmaking well dried up, and defenses keyed in on what Payne did best, baiting him into the same type of brutally tough shots around the basket that he took all year long.

In the regular season, the 6-foot-1 guard shot just 51 percent around the rim — well below the league-average of 58 percent, per NBA.com. Payne frequently got to the cup, but he placed in the third percentile in terms of shot quality at the rim, according to The Bball Index. He defied logic by ranking in the 86th percentile with his actual finishing at the rim, but that figure shriveled up in the postseason against tougher defenses.

As Cleaning The Glass shows in its non-garbage time metrics, the Suns backup guard took a higher percentage of his shots around the basket once the postseason began, but he converted at a significantly worse rate:

• Regular season: Shot 57 percent on shots at the rim (52nd percentile), with 26 percent of his shots coming from there (41st percentile)
• Postseason: Shot 52 percent on shots at the rim (36th percentile), with 35 percent of his shots coming from there (71st percentile)

The result of that tradeoff? Payne went from putting up a staggering 119.2 points per 100 shot attempts in the regular season to just 104.1 in the playoffs.

This year, Payne will have to demonstrate that he can create higher-quality shot attempts around the basket, keep the offense flowing when Chris Paul rests and continue shooting the ball at an elite clip when defenses tighten up. After fighting for his career last training camp, Payne is taking on a completely new role this time around. It’s one of leadership, shown in little ways like working to build early chemistry with JaVale McGee, who will be a huge weapon for him in the second unit.

“Last year I was kinda more focused on me trying to pick the plays up, trying to do all the things I can to get on the court,” he said. “And now it’s a little opposite where I’m kind of teaching a little bit because I know the plays. So yeah, it’s very helpful to have ’em and to be vocal out there.”

Cam Payne’s NBA story has come full circle in a matter of months. From out of the league to conference finals hero, the key for Payne now will be capitalizing on his familiarity with Monty and the system to fine-tune his abilities as a driver, playmaker and all-around floor general.

“It’s really important for Cam Payne, being a lead guard, to get that group organized on the fly,” Williams said.

Whether he can build on a career year in a substantial way remains to be seen, but no matter what happens, Payne’s other tattoo serves as a personal reminder that he’s already accomplished more than anyone expected.

“‘Already won,’ I got it tattooed on me because from where on from, like I won,” he said. “For my family, I won. In the basketball aspect, maybe I haven’t did what I wanted to do, but that’s not what life about. Life is just about what you make of it, and for my family, my mom, my dad, my brother — I won for them.”