Adreian Payne had left in France the image of a whimsical, leaping, and above all decisive interior in the Cup-Championship double won by Asvel in 2019 (11 points on average in the play-offs). Two years after leaving Villeurbanne, the American basketball player died suddenly overnight from Sunday to Monday, at the age of 31. According to the media Mlive, he was shot and killed around 1:30 a.m. in Florida, as reported by Orange County police. The shooter was arrested shortly after.
This information confirms the tweet of one of Adreian Payne’s former partners, Jared Sullinger (ex-Boston Celtics). “Terribly shocked”, the Asvel club quickly split a message to pay tribute to the one who wore the Villeurbannais jersey from 2019 to 2020, also participating in Asvel’s return to the Euroleague.
He had been without a club and back in the United States since February
Before this remarkable passage in France, Adreian Payne had made the heyday of the University of Michigan State (from 2010 to 2014), which had earned him to be drafted in the NBA in 15th position by the Atlanta Hawks. The interior then participated in 107 NBA games from 2014 to 2018 with Atlanta, Minnesota and Orlando (4 points and 2.4 rebounds on average). He then went through Panathinaikos Athens before joining Tony Parker’s club.
After spinning in 2020 at Ormanspor (Turkey) and Utena (Lithuania), Adreian Payne had been without a club since February and had returned to the United States, when he died last night in Florida.
