Lorenzen Wright

Lorenzen Wright: biography

The Mississippi native, Lorenzen Wright started a basketball career in NBA in 1996, as a rookie of Los Angeles Clippers. He was playing for Clippers, Hawks, Grizzlies, Kings, and Cavaliers. Lorenzen represented the national team of the USA and won the 1995 Summer Universiade. He played at a power forward and center positions. Wright was married to his teenage sweetheart for 13 years. They divorced on July 18, 2010. The next day the basketball player was shot to death. Lorenzen was a father of seven children but buried one daughter in 2003. He had a net worth of $20 million, including all of his earnings.

Childhood and youth

Lorenzen's birthplace is Oxford. Lorenzen appeared there on November 4, 1975. Lorenzen was in love with basketball from an early age. His father, Herb, also was a basketball player in Finland. However, when Wright was seven years old, his dad worked in the police of Memphis. Once he kicked a few mouthy kids out of the gym. One of them returned with a gun and shot Herb in the back. As a result of the incident, he lost the opportunity to walk.

Lorenzen’s parents separated when Lorenzen was very young, though both parents remained active in his life. Lorenzen shuttled for some time between his mom’s home in Oxford and his dad’s 80 miles away in Memphis. Wright began studying at the high school and playing basketball in Oxford but decided to move to Memphis full-time as a high school senior.

At the same time, he started dating Sherra Robinson. Her dad was Lorenzen’s AAU coach. Soon, Wright became a McDonald’s All-American with a full slate of college scholarship offers. Wright was embraced by the city of Memphis and committed to the University of Memphis.

Many expected Wright to do well, but few knew he would become such an offensive force as a freshman, averaging a double-double in points and rebounds while earning First Team All-Great Midwest and Newcomer of the Year honors. To top off the season, the Memphis Tigers made it to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen before losing to eventual champion, Arkansas. The following year, in a different conference, considered to be more competitive, Wright continued to dominate and made All-Conference USA first-team honors. So, he declared for NBA Draft in 1996.

Professional career

Wright was selected at number seven on 1996 Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. He played in LA for three years and then moved to Atlanta. Played there two seasons, he returned home in 2001, joining the Grizzlies. He was the face of Memphis. He spent his money on his friends and relatives, helping them to buy cars and houses, to open bars and to enter colleges. He helped the usual citizens in difficult situations. Lorenzen Wright became the Memphis’ symbol.

In 2006 Lorenzen played for Atlanta Hawks again, in 2008 he moved to Sacramento Kings as a result of a multiplayer exchange between the clubs. He spent only five games for them and left the club in summer 2008 to join future NBA star, LeBron James, in Cleveland Cavaliers. As a 33 years-old veteran center, Lorenzen appeared in 17 games in a reserve role for the club during that 2008-09 campaign. At the end of the season, Wright announced his retirement.

Over the years, Lorenzen spent 778 regular games in the best league of the world but appeared in playoffs only 15 times. His career stats were 8.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and 0.7 blocks on the average per game. The most productive year of his career from a statistical standpoint came during the 2000-01 season with the Hawks when he averaged 12.4 points and 7.5 rebounds. He also averaged 9.4 points and 7.1 rebounds during five seasons with the Grizzlies.

Personal life

Wright started dating Sherra Robinson as a teenager. They tied the knot in 1997and had a big family. Sherra Wright gave birth to seven children during their marriage. The spouses welcomed four sons and three daughters, but their 11-month-old daughter died in 2003 at the family's home in Memphis. Wright's wife checked on the child in her crib and discovered that the baby wasn't breathing. The baby died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Soon, after that incident, Wright established the scholarship fund, named after his daughter, to award students for excelling in school and their community. In 2010, big Lorenzen’s family broke down, when he and Sherra divorced. In 2010 he was dating Alexis Bradley.

Wright had provided financial assistance to 9-year-old Travis Butler of Memphis, whose mother died in their home of complications from a tumor on November 3, 2000. Afraid of being put in foster care, Butler went about his life as if nothing had happened, going to school, buying groceries, all while his mother was dead in their home until neighbors discovered her body on November 6.

Disappearance and death

On July 18, 2010, Lorenzen visited his children in the house of Sherra. He left them at night. Next morning he was shot multiple times. On July 22, Wright’s mother reported him missing. During the search, Sherra Wright told the police her ex-husband was involved in criminal activity. On July 28, the police found Lorenzen’s body near the TPC Southwind golf course.

It turned out that Wright called for help when the shots were fired. But the 911 operator failed to report it. With that information, police were able to locate his body. Wright was shot up to 11 times, including at least twice in the head and twice in the chest. His death was very mysterious. The police announced a reward for helping to solve a crime. Sports Illustrated even released the documentary Who Killed Lorenzen Wright.

On the day Wright's body was found, former Wright’s assistant, Wendy Wilson, arrived at the crime scene and suggested investigators question Sherra Wright because she said Sherra changed the details of her story. Soon, Wilson filed suit against three different people who she believed had slandered her since Wright's body was found.

On January 1, 2015, Wright’s former wife published a book “Mr. Tell Me Anything”. She listed it as fiction, admitted that the scenes of domestic battles and sexual cheating were true. Two years later, Memphis police found the gun, which was used to shoot Lorenzen, and arrested Billy Ray Turner on murder charges in connection to Lorenzen Wright’s death.

Four days later, Sherra Wright, was also arrested and charged with murdering her ex-husband. She fought her extradition back to Memphis. On January 26, 2018, Sherra made her first court appearance in Memphis, where the judge explained the first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder charges.

In May 2018, the police announced that Jimmie Martin, Wright’s cousin, helped the co-defendants clean up the crime scene. Turner’s bond was $15 million, while Sherra’s bond was set at $20 million. Soon, the CBS crime and justice program 48 Hours aired a special episode on the Lorenzen Wright murder case. On July 25, 2019, Sherra Wright pleaded guilty to facilitating murder. She received a sentence of 30 years in prison and was eligible for parole after serving eight years.