Adreian Payne will play for the Austin Spurs in his latest NBA Development League assignment.
The Hawks’ first-round pick will go to Austin, the affiliate of the San Antonio Spurs, after being the first player to go through the newly created flexible assignment system.
The Hawks’ D-League affiliate is the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, where Payne has played six games in two previous stints. However, Fort Wayne is also the affiliate of 12 other NBA teams. The other 17 D-League teams are singly-affiliated. By rule, Fort Wayne can have a maximum of four NBA assignees or two players at one position assigned at one time.
According to the new rules, an NBA team can still assign a player to the D-League although Fort Wayne is at its maximum. That was the case Sunday night when the Hawks assigned Payne. Fort Wayne already had Hawks players John Jenkins and Mike Muscala, along with the Pelicans’ Russ Smith and the Wizards’ Glen Rice Jr. That made Payne eligible for the flexible assignment. One of the 17 singly-affiliated teams could have volunteered to accept Payne. If there was more than one offer, the Hawks could choose the location. If no singly-affiliated team volunteered to accept Payne, he would have been assigned via a lottery to one of the 10 non-NBA owned D-League teams.
Following the assignment of Payne, Jenkins, Muscala and Smith were all re-called to the NBA.
Austin is an optimal place for Payne as they run a very similar system to that of the Hawks.
“It’s not the same system that we run here,” Payne told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday night of his time in Fort Wayne. “It’s different. It’s just like coming from college when you learn a different system.”
Austin plays three games in four days, beginning Thursday at Los Angeles. The also play at Santa Cruz Friday and versus Oklahoma City Sunday. It is likely Payne will return to the Hawks following the three-game stint.
Payne averaged 13.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 31.3 minutes in his six games with Fort Wayne. He had a .409 field-goal percentage.
The Hawks selected Payne with the 15th overall selection in the June draft. He has yet to appear in an NBA game. Only Philadelphia’s No. 3 Joel Embiid (foot surgery) and No. 12 Dario Saric (remained in Turkey) were selected higher than Payne and have yet to play an NBA game.
