Payne waived after report
Forward released following ESPN story on Michigan St. case
INDIANAPOLIS — The Orlando Magic waived two-way player Adreian Payne following an ESPN report that Michigan State University mishandled a rape allegation against Payne and another former Spartans player, Keith Appling, when they were Michigan State students in August 2010.
The report was part of a broader article that suggested Michigan State officials mishandled sexual assault, violence and gender-discrimination complaints, including complaints against former Michigan State and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who was sentenced Wednesday to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting more than 150 young girls.
As detailed in the ESPN piece, a Michigan State student alleged that Payne and Appling raped her on Aug. 29, 2010, in their dorm room. Although Appling told ESPN the encounter was “consensual,” ESPN cited a police report taken at the time in which Payne stated to police that he could “understand how she would feel that she was not free to leave.”
Payne and Appling were not charged in the case.
The Magic spokesman said team officials will not comment on their decision to waive Payne.
Asked late Saturday morning about the decision to waive Payne, coach Frank Vogel answered, “We wish him well, but I don’t really have anything to add to the fact that we waived him.”
Payne appeared in five games this season for the Magic and 17 games for the Magic’s G-League team in Lakeland, including Friday night’s game in Ohio against the Canton Charge.
Appling played five games for the Magic during the 2015-16 season and had played for the Magic’s former G-League affiliate in Erie, Pa., but he is currently serving time in prison after pleading guilty last year to carrying a concealed weapon and resisting and obstructing a police officer.