Adreian Payne

Adreian Payne

Payne dunking against North Carolina
No. 3 – Minnesota Timberwolves
Position Power forward / Center
League NBA
Personal information
Born February 19, 1991
Dayton, Ohio
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight 245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High school Jefferson Township (Dayton, Ohio)
College Michigan State (2010–2014)
NBA draft 2014 / Round: 1 / Pick: 15th overall
Selected by the Atlanta Hawks
Pro career 2014–present
Career history
2014–2015 Atlanta Hawks
2014 →Fort Wayne Mad Ants (D-League)
2014–2015 →Austin Spurs (D-League)
2015–present Minnesota Timberwolves
Career highlights and awards

Adreian DeAngleo Payne (born February 19, 1991) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Michigan State University.

High school career

Payne played high school basketball for Jefferson High School. He posted averages of 15.6 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.0 blocks as a senior. As a senior, he led Jefferson to a Division IV state championship and a 19-5 record. The Dayton Daily News named him first team All-Area.[1]

Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Adreian Payne
C		 Dayton, OH Jefferson 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Oct 29, 2009 
Scout:5/5 stars   Rivals:5/5 stars   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 95
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 8   Rivals: 5
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

College career

Adreian Payne practicing before the 2011 Carrier Classic

As a freshman, Payne averaged 2.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game, playing in 34 games.[1]

In his sophomore season, he led the team in blocks (39) and finished seventh in the Big 10. In 37 games (36 starts), he averaged 7.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He was an Academic All-Big Ten selection.[1]

As a junior, Payne led the Big Ten in free-throw percentage (.848) and blocked a total of 46 shots, good for sixth all-time for a Michigan State player. In 36 games (324 starts), he averaged 10.5 points and 7.6 rebounds in 25.6 minutes per game.[1] Payne was named to the Second Team All Big Ten, along with Michigan State teammates Keith Appling and Gary Harris.[2]

Coming into his senior year, Payne was on the preseason Naismith and Wooden Award watchlists.[3][4] CBS Sports selected him to the preseason Third Team All-America.[5] He was named to the Midseason Wooden Award Top 25 watchlist.[6] Payne was twice named Big Ten Player of the Week.[7][8] He missed seven games due to suffering an ankle injury.[9] At the conclusion of the regular season Payne was named Second Team All-Big Ten.[10]

Friendship with Lacey Holsworth

During the 2013–14 college basketball season, Payne's friendship with Lacey Holsworth, an 8-year-old cancer patient, gained national media attention.[11] Their friendship started when Payne met Holsworth during a team-sponsored hospital visit in 2011 and the two began to text and talk frequently afterward.[12] Holsworth, who battled with a nerve cancer known as neuroblastoma, accompanied Payne at center court on Senior Night and helped him cut down the nets after 2013-14 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team won the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament.[13] Holsworth, also known as "Princess Lacey", died from her cancer on April 8, 2014.[14]

NBA career

Atlanta Hawks

On June 26, 2014, Payne was selected with the 15th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks.[15] On July 25, 2014, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Hawks after averaging 12.5 points and 7.0 rebounds during the 2014 NBA Summer League.[16] After managing five preseason games for the Hawks, he was ruled out for the start of the regular season with plantar fasciitis in his left foot.[17] He subsequently missed the first ten games of the season with the injury, and upon his return, he was assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League on November 20, 2014.[18] He was recalled by the Hawks on November 23,[19] reassigned on November 28,[20] and recalled again on December 6.[21]

With the maximum allowance of four NBA players already being on assignment to the Mad Ants, the flexible assignment rule was used on December 9 so the Hawks could assign Payne to the Austin Spurs, the San Antonio Spurs' one-to-one D-League affiliate.[22] On December 22, he was recalled by the Hawks[23] and went on to make his long awaited NBA debut on December 26 against the Milwaukee Bucks. He recorded 2 points and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes of action as the Hawks lost 77-107.[24] On December 30, the flexible assignment rule was again used to assign Payne to Austin.[25] He was recalled again on January 12, 2015.[26]

Minnesota Timberwolves

On February 10, 2015, Payne was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for a protected future first-round pick.[27] On March 9, 2015, he had a season-best game with 16 points and 15 rebounds while starting in place of Kevin Garnett as the Timberwolves lost 76-89 to the Los Angeles Clippers.[28]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2014–15 Atlanta 3 0 6.3 .286 .000 .500 1.3 .0 .3 .0 1.7
2014–15 Minnesota 29 22 24.8 .418 .125 .659 5.4 1.0 .6 .3 7.2
Career 32 22 23.1 .414 .111 .652 5.1 .9 .6 .3 6.7

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "5 Adreian Payne". Michigan State Spartans. Michigan State University. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ "2012-13 All-Big Ten Men’s Basketball Team" (PDF). BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. March 11, 2013. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Includes Ten Big Ten Players". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. November 12, 2013. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Big Ten Men's Basketball Release - Weekend Edition: Big Ten went 11-1 during the week". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. November 21, 2013. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
  5. ↑ "CBSSports.com 2013-14 Preseason All-American teams". CBS Sports. February 27, 2013. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Four Big Ten Players Named to Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 List". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. January 22, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Michigan State and Indiana Earn Weekly Men's Basketball Honors: Michigan State's Adreian Payne named Player of the Week; Indiana's Noah Vonleh tabbed Freshman of the Week". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2013-11-18. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  8. ↑ "Michigan State, Indiana and Michigan Earn Weekly Men's Basketball Honors". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2013-12-23. Retrieved 2013-12-24.
  9. ↑ "Adreian Payne expected to play Thursday against Penn State". Lansing State Journal. February 4, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Big Ten Announces 2014 Men's Basketball Postseason Honors: Michigan's Stauskas named Big Ten Player of the Year". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2014-03-10. Retrieved 2014-03-10.
  11. ↑ "This Pair's Beautiful Friendship Will Fill Your Heart with March Gladness". Huffington Post. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  12. ↑ "Adreian Payne Forms a Special Bond with Girl Battling Cancer". People.com. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  13. ↑ "Biggest Star of March Madness Is an 8-Year-Old Girl Fighting Cancer". Mashable.com. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  14. ↑ "Lacey Holsworth, 8, dies of cancer". ESPN.com. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  15. ↑ Hawks Select Adreian Payne With 15th Pick
  16. ↑ Hawks Sign First-Round Draft Pick Adreian Payne
  17. ↑ Adreian Payne injury: Hawks' rookie out with plantar fasciitis in left foot
  18. ↑ Atlanta Hawks Assign Payne To Fort Wayne Mad Ants
  19. ↑ Atlanta Hawks Recall Payne From Fort Wayne Mad Ants
  20. ↑ Hawks Assign Payne, Jenkins to Mad Ants
  21. ↑ Hawks recall rookie Payne from Fort Wayne
  22. ↑ Atlanta Hawks Assign Adreian Payne to Austin Spurs
  23. ↑ Hawks recall Adreian Payne from D-League again
  24. ↑ Perfect 10: Dudley doesn't miss, Bucks rout Hawks
  25. ↑ Atlanta Hawks Assign John Jenkins To Idaho Stampede and Adreian Payne To Austin Spurs
  26. ↑ Atlanta Hawks Recall Adreian Payne from Austin Spurs
  27. ↑ Wolves Acquire Forward Adreian Payne from Atlanta
  28. ↑ Redick, Jordan lead short-handed Clippers past Wolves, 89-76

External links