NEW YORK — The Knicks signed a player on Monday, but it was not a center.

Instead, the Knicks and veteran point guard Cameron Payne agreed to a one-year deal worth $3.1 million, according to reports.

Payne played backup point guard on the Phoenix Suns team that lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021 NBA Finals.

Most recently, he split the 2023-24 season between a pair of Eastern Conference contenders, spending the first half of the season with the Bucks before finishing his season on the Philadelphia 76ers.

Payne is a career 36.9% 3-point shooter, best known as a streaky scorer and feisty competitor.

He can get hot, fast, and he complements these Knicks by adding depth and playoff pedigree to an already deep bench.

The Knicks, however, didn’t necessarily need point guard help.

Jalen Brunson will play the majority of the minutes at the one, and Miles McBride acquitted himself well as the backup point guard after the Knicks traded Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors.

The Knicks even drafted another guard in Marquette’s Tyler Kolek with the 34th pick in the 2024 NBA draft, then signed him to a four-year, $9 million deal featuring the most-ever guaranteed money paid to a second-round pick.

And now they’ve added Payne.

Cue the viral Brian Windhorst meme.

Suddenly, a team in need of a center after losing Isaiah Hartenstein to the Oklahoma City Thunder — now has a surplus of point guards.

Suddenly, one of the more balanced rosters in all of basketball is beginning to look a bit lopsided.

Could it mean another trade is on the way?

The Knicks signed McBride to a three-year, $13 million extension before Quickley even settled into his new home in Toronto.

McBride immediately turned that deal into a steal, emerging as a defensive irritant and flamethrower from 3-point range in the second half of the season.

The Knicks did not include McBride in the Mikal Bridges trade with the Nets even though they could have used his $4.3 million salary to satisfy the trade without being hard-capped at the first apron.

Instead, they agreed to sign-and-trade Shake Milton to the Nets as part of the deal.

Which means instead of trading McBride to satisfy one trade, the Knicks can now use him as a trade chip in another.

Or, the Knicks could go into the season with four point guards and play a small-ball second unit with two of McBride, Payne or Kolek logging minutes at both guard spots, then Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart as backup three and four.

What has yet to be addressed, of course, is the backup five: Mitchell Robinson will start, and Jericho Sims is the only other center on the roster. Robinson missed most of last season and the second round of the playoffs due to two separate stress injuries on his left ankle, both of which required surgery.

Sims got the start after Robinson’s first injury, then hurt his own ankle on a jump ball and never found a consistent rhythm. Hartenstein seized the starting role, then Precious Achiuwa emerged as a versatile defender as part of the deal with the Raptors.

Achiuwa has yet to sign with a team and can return to the Knicks for at most the $5.2 million tax payer’s mid-level exception.

But so far into the offseason, it’s slim pickings in free agency, and the best acquisition the Knicks can make is going to be a player on another team.

Who the Knicks give up in such a trade remains to be seen, but they just added another point guard, even though they didn’t necessarily need one. That means it’s fair to wonder if a McBride deal is on the horizon, given the Knicks can use his salary and draft capital to pry a young big man from another team.

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