We have Booker, Beal, KD, Okogie, Goodwin, Gordon, Lee, Etc.....
Okogie and Lee are not ball handlers, I suspect Goodwin isn't much of one either at this stage of his career.
Payne would probably have been the 2nd best facilitator on the team after Booker. His assist/turnover rates were very good, even when his shot sucked.
The Cam Payne hagiography is crazy around here. He's a little guy that tries hard, but was becoming unreliable two years ago, and then between injuries/ineffectiveness, he was completely useless last year.
The league figured him out - Cam is just another mercurial undersized guard who can get hot in a minute but also can shoot/turnover you out of a game quickly.
He was a solid backup guard, better than most around the league, even last season.
Injuries were more of a problem than anything else, that is a legit gripe. His shot was inconsistent... but that is why he was a backup, if he played as well as he did as a passer and defender (where he was also solid) and was a consistently good shooter he'd be on a much bigger contract than 6 mil a year.
We have solid depth, but dumping him was about money. I don't blame the team, 26 million in luxury tax for a guy who might not be in the rotation doesn't make sense. But this narrative that he was garbage for us the last 2 years is absolute nonsense.