Lorenzen Wright

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Lorenzen Wright bigraphy, stories - American basketball player

Lorenzen Wright : biography

November 4, 1975 – 2010

Lorenzen Vern-Gagne Wright (November 4, 1975 – July 2010 July 28, 2010) was an American professional basketball player.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Clippers | 77 || 51 || 25.1 || .481 || .250 || .587 || 6.1 || .6 || .6 || .8 || 7.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Clippers | 69 || 38 || 30.0 || .445 || .000 || .659 || 8.8 || .8 || .8 || 1.3 || 9.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Clippers | 48 || 15 || 23.6 || .458 || .000 || .692 || 7.5 || .7 || .5 || .8 || 6.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta | 75 || 0 || 16.1 || .499 || .333 || .644 || 4.1 || .3 || .4 || .5 || 6.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta | 71 || 46 || 28.0 || .448 || .000 || .718 || 7.5 || 1.2 || .6 || .9 || 12.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Memphis | 43 || 33 || 29.1 || .459 || .000 || .569 || 9.4 || 1.0 || .7 || .5 || 12.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Memphis | 70 || 49 || 28.3 || .454 || .000 || .659 || 7.5 || 1.1 || .7 || .8 || 11.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Memphis | 65 || 46 || 25.8 || .439 || .000 || .733 || 6.8 || 1.1 || .7 || .9 || 9.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Memphis | 80 || 77 || 28.6 || .469 || .000 || .662 || 7.7 || 1.1 || .7 || .9 || 9.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Memphis | 78 || 58 || 21.7 || .478 || .000 || .564 || 5.1 || .6 || .7 || .6 || 5.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta | 67 || 31 || 15.4 || .448 || .000 || .281 || 3.2 || .6 || .4 || .4 || 2.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta | 13 || 1 || 11.4 || .294 || .000 || .500 || 2.8 || .2 || .2 || .2 || 1.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento | 5 || 0 || 2.6 || .250 || .000 || .000 || .2 || .2 || .0 || .0 || .4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Cleveland | 17 || 2 || 7.4 || .370 || .000 || .375 || 1.5 || .2 || .2 || .3 || 1.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Career | style="text-align:left;"| | 778 || 447 || 23.8 || .459 || .069 || .645 || 6.4 || .8 || .6 || .7 || 8.0

Playoffs

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 1997 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Clippers | 3 || 3 || 30.7 || .406 || .000 || 1.000 || 7.3 || .7 || 1.0 || .7 || 10.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2004 | style="text-align:left;"| Memphis | 4 || 4 || 25.0 || .435 || .000 || .333 || 4.3 || .5 || 1.0 || .5 || 5.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2005 | style="text-align:left;"| Memphis | 4 || 4 || 21.3 || .571 || .000 || .500 || 5.0 || 2.3 || .2 || .2 || 8.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2006 | style="text-align:left;"| Memphis | 4 || 0 || 21.5 || .611 || .000 || .700 || 5.0 || .8 || .0 || 1.0 || 7.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Career | style="text-align:left;"| | 15 || 11 || 24.2 || .495 || .000 || .652 || 5.3 || 1.1 || .5 || .6 || 7.7

Personal life

Wright founded the Sierra Simone Wright Scholarship Fund after the death of his infant daughter in March 2003. During the summer of 2003, he returned to the University of Memphis to finish his degree. His father Herb was a professional basketball player who competed in Finland.

During his first stint in Atlanta, Wright and three other Memphis-native NBA players (Todd Day, Penny Hardaway and Elliot Perry) provided financial assistance to Travis Butler, a Memphis orphan whose tragic story garnered national attention.

Wright was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, and was initiated in spring 1996 to the Kappa Beta Chapter.

Early life and college

Raised in Oxford, Mississippi, Wright played all levels of basketball in Memphis – high school, collegiate and professional. Wright was selected a Third Team All-America by the Associated Press as a sophomore at the University of Memphis.

Disappearance and death

Wright left his ex-wife’s home in Collierville, Tennessee on July 18, 2010, and was not seen or heard from again. His family filed a missing persons report on July 22. After Wright’s body was found on July 28 in a wooded area on Callis Cutoff Road just west of Hacks Cross Road, it was reported that a 9-1-1 call had been received from his cell phone in the early morning of July 19 by the Germantown, Tennessee 911 dispatch center; the caller was speaking with the dispatcher when gun shots rang out. The case is being investigated as a homicide. Wright’s body is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.

Professional career

After being selected seventh overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1996 NBA Draft out of the University of Memphis, Wright moved on to the Atlanta Hawks in 1999. He was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, but returned to the Hawks in 2006.

On February 16, 2008, he was involved in a multi-player trade, going from Atlanta to Sacramento for Mike Bibby.

He held career averages of 8.0 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, playing in 778 (793 including playoffs) NBA games over 13 seasons.