{"id":793099,"date":"2026-05-13T09:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T09:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/793099\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T09:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T09:24:21","slug":"ja-morant-pays-emotional-tribute-to-brandon-clarke-after-memphis-grizzlies-star-dies-aged-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/793099\/","title":{"rendered":"Ja Morant pays emotional tribute to Brandon Clarke after Memphis Grizzlies star dies aged 29"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA world has been rocked by the sudden passing of Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke. He was 29 years old.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clarke’s death was announced by the Grizzlies and his agency, Priority Sports. <\/p>\n

\"Brandon<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Memphis Grizzlies forward Clarke has passed away at the age of 29Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Clarke was reportedly found Monday in a home in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. <\/p>\n

According to multiple reports<\/a>, Clarke was found dead from a possible drug overdose after drug paraphernalia was found in the home.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies said in a statement<\/a> that they are ‘heartbroken by the tragic loss’ of Clarke.<\/p>\n

“Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten,” the statement read.<\/p>\n

READ MORE FROM THE NBA<\/p>\n

“We express our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”<\/p>\n

Priority Sports added that it is “just impossible to put into words how much be will be missed,” in their own statement.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ja Morant leads tributes for Brandon Clarke<\/p>\n

Grizzlies teammate J Morant shared an emotional tribute to Clarke on his Instagram Story. The post featured memories from their time together\u00a0in Memphis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis hurt BC \ud83d\udc94 love you broski,” Morant wrote. “Gone way too soon. <\/p>\n

“It\u2019s bigger than basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clarke played college ball at San Jose State and Gonzaga University before being drafted 21st overall in the 2019 NBA<\/a> Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Thunder traded Clarke to the Grizzlies two weeks later. He played seven years in Memphis.<\/p>\n

\"Brandon<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies said they are ‘heartbroken by the tragic loss’ of ClarkeCredit: Getty\"Ja<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Grizzlies star Ja Morant led tributes to ClarkeCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Clarke emerged as a key contributor to the Grizzlies during the pandemic-shortened 2019-2020 season.<\/p>\n

He averaged 12.1 points and 5.9 rebounds in 58 games, making the league’s All-Rookie Team and finishing fourth in Rookie of the Year voting.<\/p>\n

Primarily a valuable bench player early in his career in Memphis, Clarke signed a four-year, $52 million extension with the franchise in October 2022.<\/p>\n

He suffered a season-ending torn achilles in March 2023, and appeared in only six games the following season.<\/p>\n

Clarke had been suffering from a calf injury that had kept him sidelined for most of the 2025-26 season, appearing in just two games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are devastated to learn of the passing of Brandon Clarke.\u00a0 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.,\u201d NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Brandon<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Clarke signed a four-year, $52 million extension with Memphis in 2022.Credit: Getty\"February<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Clarke appeared in just two games for the Grizzlies in the 2025-26 seasonCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts and sympathies are with Brandon\u2019s family, friends and the Grizzlies organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clarke had a standout college career with San Jose State and Gonzaga.<\/p>\n

In his only season in Gonzaga (2018-2019), he averaged 16.9 points and led them to the NCAA tournament regional final, being named to to the Wooden All-America team.<\/p>\n

He was born in Vancouver before his family moved to the United States when he was a child.<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

He was a very active member within the Memphis community, celebrating his 29th birthday donating books and resources to a local elementary school.<\/p>\n

Stay up to date with the NBA across all our talkSPORT platforms – subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest news, opinion, exclusive interviews and our <\/strong>daily unfiltered, unscripted show ‘The S* Word, from 8am ET<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA world has been rocked by the sudden passing of Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke. He was…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":793100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[52410,323708,323705,323710,323704,323707,10005,323700,323702,323701,323703,323709,3576,323706,3135,323696,323698,323697,323699,1260,7185,323695,3579,62459,323693,323694,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-793099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-brandon-clarke","tag-brandon-clarke-cause-of-death","tag-brandon-clarke-death","tag-brandon-clarke-drugs","tag-brandon-clarke-grizzlies","tag-brandon-clarke-overdose","tag-grizzlies","tag-grizzlies-news","tag-grizzlies-rumors","tag-grizzlies-rumours","tag-grizzlies-updates","tag-how-did-brandon-clarke-die","tag-ja-morant","tag-ja-morant-brandon-clarke","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-memphis-grizzlies-news","tag-memphis-grizzlies-rumors","tag-memphis-grizzlies-rumours","tag-memphis-grizzlies-updates","tag-nba","tag-nba-news","tag-nba-playoff-teams","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-nba-rumors","tag-nba-rumours","tag-nba-updates","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}