The tragedy of traditional guards: After 7 years and 6 teams, setting multiple NBA records, he is still not reused.

He has outstanding talent. Since landing in the NBA, he has written his name into many NBA record lists. However, even so, he still cannot avoid wandering around. Starting in 2018, he moved to 6 teams in 7 years, constantly traded and waived. During this period, he went overseas for 2 years and almost retired from the NBA early. This genius with a tragic career is Elfrid Payton.

Payton was born into a sports family. His father is a famous Canadian football star and a member of the CFL Hall of Fame. His game tapes are his son's deepest childhood memories. However, compared to his father's big body, little Payton's development was very slow. He was the thinnest child in the class and was not suitable for rugby, football, track and field, and baseball. His father accompanied him to try various sports, and finally found a foothold in basketball.

With a height of 1.7 meters, he could barely meet the standard for being selected for the school team, but he could only sit at the end of the bench. The turning point occurred in his senior year of high school. Payton's height quickly jumped to 1.88 meters, and he gradually became a starter for the team. In his last year of high school, he averaged 12.8 points, 5.2 assists, and 4.1 steals per game. With his performance, he led the team to a record of 30 wins and 4 losses. While winning the regional MVP, he was also selected to the state's best team. However, in the United States, Payton Jr. is still only a small role. Even if Payton Sr. used his connections, he could not get his son into a well-known school and only received a scholarship from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

In the graduation season, Payton had no joy or expectations at all. He said to his father in frustration, "I'm sorry, I let you down." His father did not respond directly, turned around and took the protective gear and whispered, "Follow me." His father took little Payton to the football field where they played as children, and once again completed a "father and son" duel. The difference was that the winner was no longer his father, but little Payton.

"You don't have to apologize to me. You have played wonderfully this year. Dad is very proud of you. There is still a long way to go, so what you have to do is to go all out and not give up now."

Payton was very encouraged by his father's words. He did undergo a transformation in college, with his statistics rising like the Mississippi River, from averaging 7.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2.1 steals per game in his freshman season to averaging 15.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.4 steals per game in his sophomore season.

In his third year of college, Payton broke out completely, posting 19.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 2.3 steals. While helping the team return to the top 64 after 9 years, he was also elected as the best defensive player in the United States. His reputation reached its peak. He was regarded as the next Rajon Rondo, a backcourt commander who can bring winning genes.

The 2014 draft was full of talents, but due to his excellent organization and defense, Payton was still selected with the 10th overall pick. In his first year with the Magic, he indeed broke through the night sky of Orlando like a new star.

Ranked third among rookies in scoring, ranked first in assists and steals, and scored consecutive triple-doubles in games against the Mavericks and Trail Blazers, becoming the first player in the history of the Magic. He was selected to the All-Rookie Team along with No. 1 pick Wiggins. Payton Jr. has a promising future and is expected to become the next super point guard and bring Orlando back to the top. But in the blink of an eye, three years have passed, and people have not waited for that day. It seems that he has been pressed on the pause button, and all statistics have stopped growing.

Averaged about 10 points per game. Because he did not have the ability to shoot, Payton was unable to crack the defense. His three-point shooting rate was less than 30%, which greatly reduced the team's offensive space. Even free throws were only about 50%;

averaged about 6 assists per game, and the number It's good, but it doesn't help the team much, because Payton's prerequisite for handling the ball requires long-term dribbling, which makes it difficult to coexist with some big ball-handling cores;

The last thing is defense, which is originally Payton's best skill, but in the NBA, he has not shown N The power of the CAA's best defensive player, the slow-moving Payton, can easily be passed by in one step;

This kind of traditional defender was still very popular twenty years ago, but in the fast-paced world, Payton has shortcomings all over his body. Starting from 2018 , the 24-year-old started a seven-year wandering journey, successively moving to the Suns, Pelicans, Knicks and Hornets. Even though he created 5 consecutive triple-doubles with the Pelicans, comparable to Jordan and Chamberlain, he failed to get a contract extension and could only go to Puerto Rico to maintain his condition.

The basketball world's patience with traditional point guards has passed like an hourglass, and Payton, who has been accustomed to this style of play, cannot quickly transform, cannot develop ball-handling, and cannot shoot. He has become an embarrassing situation where strong teams do not need them and weak teams do not like to use them.

Last summer, Payton, who was already in his thirties, was still waiting for a call from the NBA. He went to multiple teams to participate in training camps at his own expense. In the end, the hometown team Pelicans opened the door, but due to poor game form, Payton was repeatedly waived by the team. After briefly playing for the Hornets, he was signed back by the Pelicans again. For Payton, this is likely to be the last chance of his NBA career. With his performance of 10+ consecutive assists, Payton won the trust of the Pelicans, and a two-year formal contract was handed to him.

Payton’s career is essentially a “technical obsolescence case” in the process of basketball industrialization. He has the exquisite skills of a classical point guard - vision, passing, and rhythm control, but he was reported an error by the system because he was unable to add a "three-point plug-in" to the machine.

In an era where efficiency is paramount, there is no irreplaceable skill, only the need for constant rewriting. His story is a warning to latecomers: Talent needs to be equipped with the battery of the times to last. Perhaps one day, when basketball values ​​"slow art" again, those dusty assist highlights will be illuminated again - but Payton's drifting bottle has sunk into the depths of the data torrent.