How Cam Payne's Hamstring Injury Impacts Sixers' Playoff Rotation

As if losing by 20-plus points to the Detroit Pistons wasn't bad enough on Saturday, that game added injury to insult for the Sixers when Cam Payne left early with a hamstring strain.

The Sixers announced Sunday that Payne will be out for at least two weeks, which means he'll miss the rest of the regular season along with the play-in tournament if the Sixers can't secure a top-six seed in the East.

Payne has averaged 17.0 minutes per game with the Sixers across 22 appearances this season, although his role was already beginning to get dialed back since Tyrese Maxey's return. He went from averaging at least 15-20 minutes per game in Maxey's absence to playing only two minutes against Charlotte, 13 minutes in the blowout win over Washington and not playing at all against Miami or Minnesota.

In that regard, Payne's injury isn't a crippling blow for the Sixers. Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes were going to be the top three guards in their postseason rotation either way.

However, if Payne isn't back by the start of the playoffs—assuming the Sixers make it—his absence could lower both their floor and ceiling.

Payne's injury lowers Sixers' margin for error

When the Sixers dealt Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder ahead of the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline, they left themselves temporarily short-handed in the backcourt. Aside from Maxey, Edgecombe and Grimes, Kyle Lowry—who just turned 40 at the end of March— was their only guard on a standard contract.

The Sixers did wind up adding Payne on a standard deal and Dalen Terry on a two-way contract, but they might be back to square one now. Unless they convert Terry to a standard contract—and they don't have an open roster spot, so they'd have to waive someone first—he won't be eligible to play in the playoffs.

Until Payne returns, the Sixers are back down to only Maxey, Edgecombe, Grimes and Lowry in their backcourt once the postseason begins. If either Maxey or Edgecombe go down with an injury, that might be all she wrote for this year's Sixers.

Payne wasn't likely to be a major factor in the Sixers' playoff rotation whenever they're at full strength, although the veteran could have been a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency microwave scorer off the bench. After all, he did have a 32-point, 10-assist outing in mid-March, albeit against the tanktastic Memphis Grizzlies.

As much as stars often determine which teams advance in the playoffs, each game and series are their own separate beast. An unexpected explosion from a random role player can help swing a game, if not a series. Payne could be that guy for the Sixers if he gets back in time.

Either way, his injury doesn't impact their ceiling all that much. It does give them far less margin for error, though.

Even if Maxey and Edgecombe stay healthy, the Sixers could be in trouble if one of them ever picks up two fouls early in the first quarter of a game. Their lack of reliable backcourt depth aside from those two and Grimes limits their matchup flexibility, too. If they're facing a guard-heavy team, they don't have the versatility and depth to deploy three-guard lineups routinely.

Granted, head coach Nick Nurse is a maniac, so he might have already been planning to play Maxey and Edgecombe for 40-plus minutes per game once the playoffs roll around. Fatigue could be a factor late in games if that's the case, though.

The Indiana Pacers took the opposite approach in the playoffs over the past few years and routinely ran their tired opponents off the floor in the fourth quarter. Conditioning isn't a factor for Maxey and Edgecombe like it has been for Joel Embiid throughout his career, but it wouldn't be surprising if they crumbled late in games against fresher legs.

While the Sixers have done well to move past the McCain trade, Payne's injury could put that controversial deal back under the microscope. If the Sixers' backcourt depth (or lack thereof) proves to be their undoing in the playoffs, the front office will have to answer for this roster construction.

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Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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