Cavs make a blunder in Sixers’ starting lineup, put Jared McCain’s face on Cameron Payne’s name card
On the Rocket Arena scoreboard before tipoff, McCain's face appeared in the place of Payne, who was in the starting lineup for the Sixers on Monday night in Cleveland.
With Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Paul George, and Joel Embiid all missing Monday’s game in Cleveland against the Cavaliers, a few unexpected faces surfaced in the starting lineup.
But perhaps none more unexpected than Jared McCain, whose picture appeared in place of Cameron Payne’s on the Rocket Arena scoreboard before tipoff.
Welp, that is not Cam Payne. (Same number, but yeesh.)
— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell.bsky.social) March 9, 2026 at 7:07 PM
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McCain was sent to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the NBA trade deadline. Payne returned to the Sixers after spending the start of the season in Serbia shortly after, taking on McCain’s old number, No. 20.
Sixer fans likely wish it was McCain starting Monday’s game. Since the trade, McCain has averaged 11.7 points in 19 minutes off the bench entering the Thunder’s game against the Nuggets on Monday.
» READ MORE: Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey will miss at least two games with finger injury
Without Edgecombe, George, Embiid, and now Maxey, the Sixers are in desperate need of a bit of extra shooting talent. While McCain was still working his way back from missing extended time due to injuries, he got limited minutes early in the year, leading to his ultimate trade.
“I definitely thought it could work,” McCain told CBS Sports. “Long-term, I definitely think it could work. I loved playing with them. It was really fun. And I’m going to miss it, too. So I think there was definitely potential there, but they made the best decision for what they thought it was and we’ve just got to live with it and kind of move on.”