Elfrid Payton is hardly good enough to save the New Orleans Pelicans' season. But as Jrue Holiday drags his team toward the end of the regular season amid the ongoing Anthony Davis drama, he's still certainly glad to have his team's starting point guard back on the court.

“I loved it, the way he played,” Holiday said of Payton's performance on Friday night, per Pelicans beat writer Jim Eichenhofer. “I wish we had that all year. But I loved seeing him out there, loved seeing him be aggressive.”

The Pelicans fell to the Indiana Pacers 126-111 in Payton's first game since January 26th. The fifth-year pro scored 15 points, grabbed two rebounds, and doled out four assists on 7-of-10 shooting in 28 minutes of play. Holiday, meanwhile, struggled and made only 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists while going 5-of-12 from the field.

Payton missed his team's previous nine games with a sprained right ankle. New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said before Friday's game that he would be under a minutes restriction for 20-to-25 minutes per game as he re-acclimates to the speed of NBA basketball.

The former lottery pick signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Pelicans last summer after being traded from the Orlando Magic to the Phoenix Suns at the 2018 trade deadline.

Although New Orleans never expected Payton to live up to his pre-draft status as a potential star, the team was still counting on him to provide some stability at point guard after Rajon Rondo signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency. Instead, Payton's season has been beset by injury, with the 24-year-old playing in just 19 of the Pelicans' 51 games.