Josh Hart couldn’t help himself after news broke that Cameron Payne was headed to the Knicks, poking fun at Payne’s arrest last month after he allegedly refused to give Scottsdale police his real name during an investigation.
“Shoutout Terry,” Hart wrote on X after the news broke.
The social media post was a reference to the name he allegedly told officers — Terry Johnson — after police showed up after he had called 911.
Payne agreed on a one-year, $3.1 million deal with the Knicks on Monday.
The alleged incident itself occurred back on June 14, according to a police report obtained by TMZ.
Scottsdale police got a call around 2:44 a.m. after Payne and his girlfriend had gotten into an argument, but when officers showed up, the couple told them they were no longer needed as the verbal argument had subsided.
Police claimed that all they needed was Payne’s name and date of birth to close their investigation and be on their way, but the NBA point guard would not identify himself, before claiming he was “Terry Johnson.”
After back and forth, Payne did eventually reveal his name but took it back claiming it was his “fake name.”
“If you want to arrest me for giving you a fake name,” the report stated that Payne told cops, “congratulations.”
Payne was booked on one count of refusal to provide a truthful name and one count of false report to law enforcement.
Payne had averaged 9.3 points and 3.1 assists per game while playing 19.4 minutes per contest in 31 games with the 76ers during the 2023-24 season.
The Knicks became quite familiar with Payne during their first-round playoff series against Philadelphia, during which he came off the bench in Game 3 to score 11 points.
Payne also shot 44.4 percent from beyond the arc during the series.