The sad fate of Lorenzen Wright

I learned some news yesterday that, while 5 years past, is new to me- and it's not good news.

I had taken a break from the NBA between 2006 and the 2011 finals. I now regret it immensely but while I was away from the League I did not keep up with it at all, for the most part. I watched the finals, usually- but not always- and I tried to catch at least one game a year that Elton Brand played in.


Yesterday, I read an article on Yahoo about "Where are they now" of the 1996 draft. In it, I learned the terrible news that sparked this post- the murder of Lorenzen Wright in 2010.

I always liked Lorenzen Wright, he seemed like a genuinely good person, and that news made me sad to read.
The murder remains unsolved to this day, and from the Wikipedia article, it sounds like they have no leads (although it is Wikipedia).

He lost a daughter to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) in 2003 and founded a Scholarship Fund in her name, but I do not know if that still exists now that he is no longer around to fund it.

Lorenzen started his career with the Los Angeles Clippers, who drafted him with the 7th pick in 1996. He played his first three seasons with them.

1996-97 Bowman's Best Refractor

I almost surely saw that Knicks-Clippers game in 1996-97 when it happened. Although I have no way of knowing now, I live in the Knicks broadcast area and watched most of the games they played at the time, so the odds are high that I did.

He then joined the Atlanta Hawks via trade for 1999-00 and 2000-01

2000-01 MVP

He then was traded to the Grizzlies, who moved to his home town of Memphis for the 2001-02 season. He would stay with them through the end of 2005-06, before rejoining the Hawks for a year and a half. He also played half a season with the Kings and his final year with the Cavaliers, but I have no cards of him in either of those uniforms, as they came while I was away from the game.

2005-06 Topps

You can see his career stats HERE on Basketball Reference, you can see his cards HERE on the Trading Card Database. You can see his Wikipedia entry HERE which has some more details of his death, and you can see his memorial page on Find-A-Grave HERE which has a photo of his very modest memorial (headstone)

The Database shows that I have 95 cards of him in my collection, although they reckon differently than I do. (If more than one person is the subject of a card, I count that as a card of 2 people, or 3 people, etc. whereas the Database counts it for each person). I have gotten three cards of him in the last month, via trade. The Find a Grave link was the first External Link I've ever posted to the Database.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Wright.