Former Michigan state basketball star Adreian Payne's cause of death revealed

Heartbreak rocked Michigan State as former basketball star Adreian Payne surprisingly passed away at the age of 31 on Monday. According to the Orange County Sheriffs office via Kyle Austin of MLive, Payne died in a shooting on Monday in Florida.

“Adreian Payne died in a shooting on Monday morning in Florida, the Orange County Sheriffs office confirms,” tweeted Austin.

Additionally, Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press added more details via the Orange Country Sheriffs office.

“On May 9, 2022 at 1:37 a.m., Orange County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the 2500 block of Egret Shores Drive regarding a shooting. A male in his 30s who had been shot, later identified as Adreian Payne (DOB: 2/19/1991), was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“The shooter, later identified as Lawrence Dority, (DOB: 2/17/1993) stayed at the scene and was transported to OSCO headquarters where he was interviewed by homicide detectives. Dority has been arrested on a warrant for First Degree Murder and transported to the Orange County Jail.”

Support for Payne has outpoured since the devastating news broke, as Jared Sullinger, a former Ohio State star, originally tweeted the news early on Monday. Even though they were competitors on the court, its evident the two former Big Ten stars had immense respect for each other.

“Hate the news I received this morning…. Rest Easy to my brother/Teammate @Adreian_Payne,” Sullinger tweeted.

Continuing, Adreian Payne played a big role across four seasons at Michigan State, and he continuously got better throughout his career. He stared six games as a freshman, averaging 2.5 points and 2.4 rebounds. He jumped into a starting role as a sophomore, averaging seven points and 4.2 rebounds with 36 starts. Payne made another leap as a junior, posting a line of 10.5 points and 7.6 rebounds, also blocking 1.3 shots per game. As a senior in the 2013-2014 season, he averaged 16.4 points and 7.3 rebounds, playing 28.1 minutes per game across 31 contests.

Overall, Payne averaged 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in his four-year collegiate career. He shot 52.6% from the field at Michigan State, and was also a 75.5% shooter from the free throw line.

Payne was then selected with the No. 15 overall pick int he 2014 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. He played in just three games as a rookie in Atlanta before he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a future first round pick. Payne then spent the next three years in Minnesota, and later signed with the Orlando Magic for the 2017-2018 season.

In his five-year NBA career, Payne played in 107 games with 24 starts. He averaged four points, 2.9 rebounds, 0.6 assists, and 0.3 blocks per game in his career.

On3’s Jonathon Wagner contributed to this report.