Lorenzen Vern-Gagne Wright was found dead he was 35

Lorenzen Vern-Gagne Wright was an American professional basketball player was found dead he was 35.
(November 4, 1975 – July 2010^[1])


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.


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.^[2]
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.

Contents

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. ^[3]
Wright was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated; initiated Spring 1996 to the Kappa Beta Chapter (The 12 Disciples of the Diamond).

Disappearance and death

Wright left his ex-wife's home on 18 July 2010, and was not seen or heard from again. His family filed a missing persons report on July 22. ^[4][5] After Wright's body was found on July 28 in a wooded area by 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; the caller was speaking with the dispatcher when gun shots rang out. ^[6] The case is being investigated as a homicide. ^[7]

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1996–97	LA Clippers	77	51	25.1	.481	.250	.587	6.1	.6	.6	.8	7.3
1997–98	LA Clippers	69	38	30.0	.445	.000	.659	8.8	.8	.8	1.3	9.0
1998–99	LA Clippers	48	15	23.6	.458	.000	.692	7.5	.7	.5	.8	6.6
1999–00	Atlanta	75	0	16.1	.499	.333	.644	4.1	.3	.4	.5	6.0
2000–01	Atlanta	71	46	28.0	.448	.000	.718	7.5	1.2	.6	.9	12.4
2001–02	Memphis	43	33	29.1	.459	.000	.569	9.4	1.0	.7	.5	12.0
2002–03	Memphis	70	49	28.3	.454	.000	.659	7.5	1.1	.7	.8	11.4
2003–04	Memphis	65	46	25.8	.439	.000	.733	6.8	1.1	.7	.9	9.4
2004–05	Memphis	80	77	28.6	.469	.000	.662	7.7	1.1	.7	.9	9.6
2005–06	Memphis	78	58	21.7	.478	.000	.564	5.1	.6	.7	.6	5.8
2006–07	Atlanta	67	31	15.4	.448	.000	.281	3.2	.6	.4	.4	2.6
2007–08	Atlanta	13	1	11.4	.294	.000	.500	2.8	.2	.2	.2	1.0
2007–08	Sacramento	5	0	2.6	.250	.000	.000	.2	.2	.0	.0	.4
2008–09	Cleveland	17	2	7.4	.370	.000	.375	1.5	.2	.2	.3	1.4
Career		778	447	23.8	.459	.069	.645	6.4	.8	.6	.7	8.0

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1996–97	LA Clippers	3	3	30.7	.406	.000	1.000	7.3	.7	1.0	.7	10.3
2003–04	Memphis	4	4	25.0	.435	.000	.333	4.3	.5	1.0	.5	5.5
2004–05	Memphis	4	4	21.3	.571	.000	.500	5.0	2.3	.2	.2	8.3
2005–06	Memphis	4	0	21.5	.611	.000	.700	5.0	.8	.0	1.0	7.3
Career		15	11	24.2	.495	.000	.652	5.3	1.1	.5	.6	7.7

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