Adreian Payne was a good enough basketball player at Michigan State to be drafted 15th overall last summer by the Atlanta Hawks.
He's also a good enough guy to have played a central role in the story of the Spartans basketball team and 8-year-old Lacey Holsworth, who died of cancer after being taken in by the basketball team -- and by Payne in particular.
Their friendship began in 2012 when Payne visited Lacey in the hospital and lasted until her death in April. She went to the Final Four in Dallas along with her family to meet up with Payne, whose team had been eliminated but who was participating in a dunk contest during the weekend.
She died several days after arriving home from that trip.
"My princess is now an angel," Payne said at the time.
This story from Bleacher Report's Jason King talks about the depth of their friendship and the impact her death had on Payne.
