"Paramedics reportedly responded to an emergency call from a home in the San Fernando Valley around dinner time Monday, and declared Clarke dead at the scene. He was 29 years old, and a seven-year NBA veteran who'd played his entire professional career with the Memphis Grizzlies."
"Subsequent reporting from NBC4 Los Angeles indicates that Clarke's death is being investigated as a possible drug overdose, and that drug paraphernalia was reportedly found "in the home." ABC News reported from sources later Monday that investigators found narcotics."
"This is inevitably drawing renewed attention to an incident from April, when Clarke was arrested in Arkansas and charged with possession of a controlled substance. That substance, per reports, was kratom, a traditional medicine derived from the leaves of a tropical evergreen tree, sold commercially as a powder and used as a stimulant. Clarke was found in possession of 200 grams of kratom, which sounds like a lot but is not: The fine powder, which looks and smells like attic dust, with a soupçon of oolong, is sold in comparable quantities at vape shops, dispensaries, and trendy cafés."
"Clarke was a very cool basketball player. He was undersized as a power forward, but he had a special, Blake Griffin-esque relationship with gravity, and could hold his own as a rebounder and rim protector. He was a fearsome lob threat, which gave him a kind of floor-warping gravity of his own when operating as the screener in a well-executed pick-and-roll."
Paramedics responded to a medical emergency call at a home in the San Fernando Valley around dinner time Monday and declared Brandon Clarke dead at the scene. Clarke was 29 and had played his entire NBA career with the Memphis Grizzlies. Investigators are reportedly treating his death as a possible drug overdose, with drug paraphernalia and narcotics reportedly found in the home. The investigation has drawn renewed attention to a prior incident in April, when Clarke was arrested in Arkansas and charged with possession of a controlled substance. Reports said the substance was kratom, a commercially sold powder derived from a tropical evergreen tree, and Clarke was found with 200 grams. Arkansas criminalizes kratom possession, unlike many other states.
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