Cameron Payne underwent surgery to repair a Jones fracture in his foot this past July and has thus spent the first part of 2016-17 on the sidelines. As for how much longer he’ll be there, the Oklahoma City Thunder don’t seem to know.
From Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman:
Billy Donovan says Cameron Payne is healing and progressing but there's "no timetable" on him.
— Brett Dawson (@BDawsonWrites) November 7, 2016
Owners of the second-highest winning percentage in the league, behind only the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Thunder don’t appear to have any immediate need for Payne—which is good, because these Jones fractures can ruin entire seasons, as we basically saw with Kevin Durant in 2014-15.
At the same time, the Thunder’s schedule hasn’t been particularly hard, and their offense has been far from great. They rank 24th in points scored per 100 possessions, and their second unit, of which Payne would be a part, checks in at 19th on the offensive scale, according to HoopsStats.com.
Again, this isn’t a major problem so long as the Thunder are winning basketball games and sustaining a top-five defense. But is this model sustainable? When their spacing is wonky? And when their schedule has been only average, per Basketball-Reference?
We’re about to find out.
And if, for some reason, the Thunder are for real, as currently constructed, offensive warts and all, lord help the rest of the league should Payne return this season.
