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Orlando Waive Adreian Payne As Sexual Assault Allegations Surface, Magic Johnson Calls Out Michigan State

By Edge Ison
Published on: 14:40 PST, Jan 29, 2018

The crackdown on alleged sexual predators has boiled over to the hard court as NBA player Adreian Payne has been waived by the Orlando Magic after his name surfaced in the sexual assault scandal currently rocking the Michigan State University.

Orlando head coach Frank Vogel confirmed on Saturday that Payne has been dropped from the Magic roster, according to NBA.com. Vogel declined to comment on the issue but did wish Payne well.

Payne, the 15th overall pick in 2014 by the Atlanta Hawks, was on a two-way contract with the Magic when he was waived. Payne played in only five games with Orlando, averaging 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds. Payne saw more time with the franchise’s G League team, the Lakeland Magic.

ESPN‘s Outside the Lines first reported on the alleged sexual assault by Payne and Appling, who also played for the Magic in 2016, after investigating Michigan State University for its supposed attempts to cover up the misdeeds of people connected to the school. Appling is currently serving a one year sentence after pleading guilty to carrying a concealed weapon.

Michigan State was initially scrutinized after the much-publicized sexual assault trial of Larry Nassar, the former U.S. Gymnastics national team doctor. Nassar, who was also the athletic physician at Michigan State, has since been convicted and is serving life for his crimes.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson, NBA legend and MSU alumnus, wants the university to be accountable as it stands accused of covering up numerous sexual assault allegations, ESPN reports. The Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations called for those involved in the cover-up to be fired from their jobs.

“If anyone was aware of the sexual assault happening to women on the MSU campus from the office of the president, Board of Trustees, athletic department, faculty & campus police, and didn’t say or do anything about it, they should be fired,” Johnson tweeted.

Johnson also showed his support for the victims of sexual assaults as he offered his help and support to prevent such assaults from happening in the future.

“The roles of the new President, Board of Trustees, athletic department, faculty, campus police, and students will be to work together to create new policies and procedures to ensure this never happens again,” Johnson added.

“As a Spartan, I love MSU and want to work with Coach Izzo, the administration, and the students to be a part of the solution in any way that I can,” Johnson said.

Over 150 women have filed civil lawsuits naming Michigan State as a co-defendant after the school’s powers that be, including coaches and trainers, allegedly ignored the numerous complaints of sexual assault and domestic violence against Nassar and some athletes from the school’s football and basketball teams.

The sexual assault scandal has led to the resignation of Michigan State president Lou Anna Simon, and Mark Hollis, the university’s athletic director. Tom Izzo and Mark Dantonio, MSU’s basketball and football coach, respectively, have already indicated that they will not resign from their posts, according to Deadspin.

Payne and Appling are accused of raping a female student in their dorm room back in 2010. No charges were filed at the time. Another former student, Travis Walton, was also accused of rape that year. Sixteen football players have also been accused of sexual assault since 2007, as Outside the Lines discovered.

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