Brandon Clarke, the Memphis Grizzlies forward who spent every season of his seven-year NBA career in Memphis, was found dead Monday May 11, 2026 at a home in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles.
He was 29 years old. The Grizzlies and his agency Priority Sports confirmed his death on Tuesday. An autopsy has been scheduled to determine the official cause of death.
The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a 911 call reporting a medical emergency at the home shortly after 5 PM Monday.
Paramedics declared Clarke dead when they arrived. Law enforcement sources told NBC Los Angeles that drug paraphernalia was found at the scene and that the incident is being investigated as a possible overdose.
Neither the Grizzlies nor Priority Sports provided details about the cause of death.
Clarke was 29 years old. He was still under contract with the Grizzlies for the 2026-27 season.
He had been expected to rejoin the team after recovering from the knee and calf issues that limited him to only two games this past season.
“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten. We express our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”
Clarke’s Seven Years In Memphis
Brandon Clarke was drafted 21st overall out of Gonzaga in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Two weeks after the draft, his rights were traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, the same day the Grizzlies had selected Ja Morant second overall.
Clarke never played for another NBA franchise. He played every game of his professional life in Memphis.
His rookie season was one of the more impressive debut campaigns the Grizzlies had seen in years.
In 58 games during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season, Clarke averaged 12.1 points and 5.9 rebounds and made the All-Rookie First Team alongside Morant.
He finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Morant, Kendrick Nunn and Bam Adebayo. The Grizzlies had drafted two of the best rookies in the league in the same night.
Clarke’s role evolved as the Grizzlies built one of the more exciting young rosters in the Western Conference.
He became a dependable bench piece, a forward-center hybrid who could score in the paint, block shots, rebound and play quality defense without needing the ball in his hands to be effective.
In 2021-22, the year Memphis won 56 games, the most in the Western Conference that season and one of the best records in franchise history, Clarke was a key contributor from the bench, receiving enough Sixth Man of the Year votes to finish 11th in the balloting.
The Grizzlies believed enough in his trajectory and character that they gave him a four-year, $52 million extension in October 2022.
He was 26 years old, coming off two productive seasons and playing alongside a team that seemed positioned to compete for championships for years.
The extension reflected the organization’s conviction that Clarke was part of their future.
The Injuries That Changed Everything
Four months after signing that extension, Clarke’s career trajectory shifted permanently.
On March 3, 2023, in a nationally televised game against the Denver Nuggets, a matchup between the two best teams in the Western Conference at the time, Clarke tore his left Achilles tendon. He was done for the season.
The Achilles is one of the most serious injuries a basketball player can sustain.
The recovery is lengthy, painful and never fully predictable in terms of how completely a player returns to the level they played before.
Clarke worked through rehabilitation and came back for the 2023-24 season but appeared in only six games. The recovery was taking longer than anyone hoped.
In 2024-25 he managed 64 games, the most he had played since the extension season, but a PCL injury in the late stages of that season cost him the final 12 games.
He came back for 2025-26 with knee and calf issues that limited him to only two appearances in December.
He underwent knee surgery in the fall of 2025 and was working toward a return for the 2026-27 season that his contract covered.
Across the past three seasons, he had been able to play just 72 of a possible 246 games.
The player who looked like a reliable double-digit contributor heading into his prime had spent more of those years working to get healthy than working to get back to his best basketball.
The April Arrest
In April 2026, approximately six weeks before his death, Clarke was arrested in Arkansas on charges that included speeding, possession of a controlled substance and trafficking of a controlled substance.
He was released from jail following the arrest.
Yahoo Sports reported that the substance in question may have been kratom, which is illegal in Arkansas though legal in most other states.
Clarke was expected to rejoin the Grizzlies for the 2026-27 season despite the arrest.
Neither the league nor the team had taken action against him based on that case. The arrest and the circumstances of his death on Monday are matters the ongoing investigation will examine.
Those Close To Clarke Remember His Legacy
The statements released after Clarke’s death are notable for a specific quality, everyone who wrote about him described the same person. Not the basketball player first. The person first.
Priority Sports, his agency, wrote:
“He was the gentlest soul who was the first to be there for all of his friends and family. Our hearts are so broken as we think about his mom, Whitney, his entire family, and all of his friends and teammates. From high school to San Jose State to Gonzaga to the Grizzlies, Brandon impacted everyone who was part of his life. Everyone loved BC because he was always there as the most supportive friend you could ever imagine. He was so unique in the joy he brought to all of those in his life. It’s just impossible to put into words how much he’ll be missed.”
Gonzaga head coach Mark Few, who coached Clarke during his one season with the Bulldogs in 2018-19, offered a similarly personal reflection. “He had such a kind, gentle and warm soul, and I will remember the great smile he had on his face whenever you were around him.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s statement acknowledged Clarke’s basketball identity while framing it within a longer legacy. “As one of the longest-tenured members of the Grizzlies, Brandon was a beloved teammate and leader who played the game with enormous passion and grit.” The NBPA described him as someone who built “genuine friendships far beyond basketball.”
The San Antonio Spurs held a moment of silence before their playoff game Tuesday, honoring Clarke and also Jason Collins, the first openly gay player in NBA history, whose death from a brain tumor was also announced Tuesday.
What His College Career Looked Like
Clarke started his college career at San Jose State before transferring to Gonzaga for what would be his only season with the Bulldogs in 2018-19. At Gonzaga, he averaged 16.9 points and a conference-leading 3.2 blocks per game.
He helped lead the team to a 33-4 record and a run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Texas Tech. He scored in double figures in all four of Gonzaga’s tournament games.
His teammate on that Gonzaga team was Rui Hachimura, who is now a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Clarke’s one Gonzaga season was the foundation of his draft stock.
He entered the 2019 draft as one of the more versatile big men available, a player whose combination of scoring, rebounding, shot-blocking and basketball intelligence suggested a player who could contribute quickly at the next level. He proved that assessment correct immediately.
He was 29 years old. He had spent his entire professional life in one city, with one organization, with the same teammates year after year through the good seasons and the injury-filled ones.
The Grizzlies described him as an outstanding teammate and an even better person.
The autopsy will determine what happened on Monday. Brandon Clarke was 29.
