WASHINGTON — The Cameron Payne experiment is running out of time.

After acquiring the second-year player from Oklahoma City in a trade deadline package that sent Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott to the Thunder, the plan was to get the “point guard of the future” acclimated as quickly as possible with a big dose of playing time.

A right foot injury that has required two past surgeries, however, continued to throw a big monkey wrench in those plans.

Payne missed the Wednesday loss to Memphis, and then didn’t even make the trip to the nation’s capital on Friday, with the foot still sore. Coach Fred Hoiberg ruled him out of today’s game with Utah, as well.

“You know what, it sounds like he’s feeling a lot better (Friday),” Hoiberg said. “He stayed back with Dwyane (Wade in Chicago) and with our physical therapist, and they’ve been working on it the last few days. Sounds like he’s pain-free right now.

“He’ll sit out one more game (Saturday), and then we’ll go from there and evaluate it. But from everything I’ve heard they don’t think it’s a long-term issue.”

Payne didn’t think it was either.

He does have a screw in the right foot, and said it does act up now and again, especially with an increased workload since coming over to the Bulls.

And while Payne couldn’t put a timetable on an exact return, he did feel like he would be back this week.

Even so, getting Payne experience with his new team was crucial as far as the front office was concerned, with one source saying that general manager Gar Forman had been pushing playing Payne on his coaching staff.

While Hoiberg has been playing him nearly 15 minutes per game, to his credit he was looking to narrow that playing time down a bit before the injury, focusing more on trying to win games over development.

A decision that the veteran players privately appreciated.

With playoff hopes slipping, however, that could change and maybe Hoiberg will focus on Payne’s development once again.

The injury is a setback, though, especially because even if he is back next week, that leaves only 12 games left on the schedule.

Scoreboard watchers:

Of course Fred Hoiberg is keeping a close eye on the scoreboard these days, especially with the Bulls remaining on the outside looking in for a playoff spot, and needing some help.

“I think you have to,” Hoiberg said. “I think everybody will look at it. You know we’ve got back-to-back games, and after that we’ll have 12 games left, so just got to go out and the biggest thing is worry about us.”

Coach Wade?

Dwyane Wade’s hope is that as soon as he is cleared to travel with the right elbow fracture, he can be on the sidelines playing assistant coach to his teammates.

“When things happen like this, you still have a role and you have to play your role,” Wade said. “I definitely have a role to still be a leader, to still be a voice when I’m there and able to travel or whenever we’re at home to try to continue to help this team.”

• This report was produced in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times. For more coverage, check chicago.suntimes.com.