Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke was found dead Monday at a home in Los Angeles, where emergency crews responded to a call just after 5 p.m. in the 20300 block of Del Campo Place in Woodland Hills. Clarke was 29 and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The L.A. County medical examiner is investigating the cause of death. The Grizzlies said they were heartbroken by the loss of Clarke, calling him an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community would not be forgotten.
Clarke spent all seven seasons of his NBA career in Memphis, appearing in 309 games and helping the Grizzlies reach the playoffs four times. The news landed less than a week before he was due to appear at a 9 a.m. Friday arraignment hearing in Forrest City, Ark., where he faced felony drug and traffic charges from an April 1 arrest. He had been released the next day on a $25,000 bond.
Before Memphis, Clarke built his reputation at Gonzaga after spending his first two years of college at San Jose State. He was named a third-team All-American in his standout junior season, helped Gonzaga reach the Elite Eight and then, in the following season, led all NCAA Division I players with a 68.7 field-goal percentage and topped the nation with 117 blocks. Clarke and Rui Hachimura helped Gonzaga to a 33-4 record and a No. 1 seed in the tournament.
Those around him remembered a player who changed quickly and carried himself lightly. Gonzaga coach Mark Few said Clarke arrived in fall 2017 with a “really screwed up looking shot,” redshirted that season and then “changed his whole shot.” Few called him “the most low-maintenance dude” and said he was easy to coach, always smiling around the facility.
Former Memphis teammate Kyle Anderson said he spoke with Clarke on FaceTime two weeks ago and described him as “just a really good person, a really good teammate” who laughed easily and was “Memphis’ own.” Anderson said the news was still raw and “it’s just crazy. It really don’t make no sense.” The San Antonio Spurs also held a moment of silence for Clarke before their game against the Timberwolves on Tuesday night, a sign of how widely his death was felt across the league.
Clarke was born in Vancouver, Canada, and raised in Phoenix. His death now leaves two tracks running in parallel: the grief of a team and a basketball family, and an unresolved legal case that was set to return to court Friday. The next public answer will come from the medical examiner, even as those who knew Clarke are left with the harder one — how a player so often described as easy to coach and easy to like was gone so suddenly.
