CAMDEN, N.J. — Cam Payne didn’t go to Serbia during fall seeking a means to an end.

A veteran of 477 NBA games with seven teams, he certainly hoped to add to those numbers.

But after a preseason spent with the Pacers that didn’t pan out and a workout with the Suns, Payne wanted to play, not wait for NBA inquiries.

If the road led back to the NBA, so be it. But objective No. 1 for the 31-year-old point guard was to play and enjoy playing again with Belgrade club KK Partizan.

“I told my agent this morning, I don’t know how I keep finding a way to get back,” Payne said. “But I guess the NBA is still watching and if you still take your game seriously and do the right things, play the right way, they’re still looking. So it’s pretty cool.”

Doing things the right way led Payne back to a second stint with the 76ers, who officially signed him on Wednesday to bolster their backcourt for the stretch drive of the season.

Payne returns to an organization he knows well, playing 31 games at the end of the 2023-24 season. He hopes the familiarity hastens his acclimation, which included a practice Wednesday in Camden and opens Thursday night when the 76ers host Atlanta to return from the All-Star Break.

Payne provides a fourth playable guard, behind the starting tandem of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, with Quentin Grimes off the bench. The Sixers dealt away Jared McCain to Oklahoma City at the trade deadline, leaving veteran Kyle Lowry as the only other guard and foisting more ball-handling duties on wings like Trendon Watford and Kelly Oubre.

Payne is a legitimate second-unit floor general who played 72 games (five starts) last year with the New York Knicks, then 14 more in the postseason. He averaged 6.9 points, 2.8 assists and 15.1 minutes per game for the Knicks last year.

Formerly with Phoenix, Chicago, OKC, Milwaukee and Cleveland, he’s averaged 7.8 points per game in his career. He’s also logged 72 career postseason games.

Payne has twice before had to go overseas — in 2019-20 to China, then this year to Europe — before getting back into the NBA. This year’s deal happened fast once the NBA trade deadline passed on Feb. 4, Payne getting into town Tuesday to finalize the contract after flying from Belgrade through Amsterdam to Philly and straight to Camden.

“I found out maybe two or three days ago,” Payne said. “I was literally at my game. I was out that game, so I was just watching, and my agent kind of told me during the game, he was like, it’s going to happen pretty fast so you might want to pack.”

Payne brings speed, energy, a career 36.8 percent shooting rate from 3-point percentage and a willingness to pull the trigger no matter how limited or few-and-far-between his opportunities are.

“I think that we’ve got a veteran ball handler, a guy who’s played in some big games,” coach Nick Nurse said. “I think we’ve seen Cam, he provides some speed, energy, 3-point shooting, will run some pick-and-roll, will get some layups here and there. Just a really good piece for us. I think he fits. Really liked him when he was here. I think we needed a little backup, backup point guard spot, and he fits it pretty good.”

“I think he has good energy,” Maxey said. “When he gets in the game, he knows he’s going to push the pace, play hard, make shots, and then even when he’s on the bench, he has good, positive energy.”

Payne wasn’t necessarily in need of rediscovering his joy in Serbia, but he found a spark anyway.

Sometimes that was literal, the Partizan ultras notorious for their boisterous chants and indoor flares. That’s not all that Payne had in mind when describing the atmosphere as “lit,” though, the Memphis native adapting to the differences of the international game and how it’s received in Europe.

More than anything, Payne had free rein to be himself, a refreshing change for a guy who has spent most of a decade fitting himself into discreet reserve roles on NBA rosters.

“Just playing, actually being the focal point of a team, running the offense, running the show,” he said. “It hasn’t really been like that since college, so it was cool to actually get back into that role of playing. And now that I’m coming back here being a backup, you kind of have that same ownership of the second unit. You’ve got to run the team still. So it was just kind of cool to be able to go over there and actually play and actually have a real role, like they count on you for real.”

Payne gets to rejoin a backcourt with talent and familiarity. He said Kyle Lowry told him how much he’s going to love playing with Edgecombe, who Payne has already diagnosed as “a dog” who “looks like he’s been in the league a little bit longer than him just being a rookie.”

Payne has also seen huge growth in Maxey, an All-Star the last time Payne was with the 76ers but now an All-Star Game starter.

“That man took a crazy jump,” Payne said. “I feel like he took a crazy jump from last year to this year. I feel like he excelled his game even more coming to this season, just watching the shots he takes. Obviously he’s been taking those shots, but the efficiency is crazy. He’s actually changed his game from the last two years I was here.”

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Joel Embiid (right knee) practiced in Camden on Wednesday, though was off the court by the time it was opened to media. The 76ers later listed him as out for Thursday’s game against Atlanta with a new designation of right shin soreness.

The team said that Embiid reported the soreness while going through the injury management program on his right knee during the All-Star Break. He will be reevaluated before a back-to-back in New Orleans and Minnesota this weekend.

Embiid had a scheduled meeting with doctors Wednesday afternoon. The team said he is “progressing through on-court work and strength and conditioning.”

Embiid had missed the last two games before the All-Star Break, in Portland and against the Knicks. It’s the first time he’s missed back-to-back games since Dec. 19-20.

“He was out there, looked pretty good,” Nurse said Wednesday before the injury report. “He’s got a meeting shortly with the doctors here this afternoon. So we’ll know a little bit more about where he is. But he was out there a little bit today.”