The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office announced earlier this month that late Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke died due to an accidental overdose of heroin and cocaine. On Monday, the medical examiner released Clarke’s full autopsy report, per Melody Gutierrez of The Athletic.
Clarke’s roommate told authorities after he passed away that the seven-year NBA veteran had a “history of drug use with prior stints at a rehabilitation program.” The roommate was urged by Clarke’s agent to check on Clarke and discovered the Canadian power forward unresponsive in his bedroom.
As Gutierrez writes, the medical examiner initially said the “combined effects of multiple prescription medications” were a contributing factor in Clarke’s death. The full report revealed that oxycodone, anti-anxiety medication and muscle relaxers were present “within therapeutic levels.” Mitragynine, a substance derived from kratom, was also found during toxicology testing.
According to Gutierrez, the medical examiner wrote that “vape devices, cannabis products, injectable peptides, syringes and a box of Narcan,” were found in Clarke’s bedroom and attached bathroom. There was also a “plate with a white powdery substance” in the home’s kitchen island, Gutierrez adds.
Clarke was one of the top reserves in the league when healthy but battled significant injury absences in recent seasons. The former San Jose State and Gonzaga standout averaged 10.2 points and 5.5 rebounds in 20.8 minutes per game across 309 regular season appearances with Memphis, his only NBA team.
Here’s more on the Grizzlies:
As he enters his third season, Jaylen Wells is working on improving all aspects of his game, writes Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (subscriber link). However, the 6’7″ wing said he’s particularly focused on one improvement area. “I think the one biggest weakness that I had was reading the pick-and-roll,” Wells said. “I think that’s something I really wanted to work on, and it’s something I’m kind of attacking.” After finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2024/25, Wells averaged 12.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists on .431/.353/.784 shooting in 69 games (all starts) last season (26.4 minutes per game).
In another subscriber-only story, Cole lists three single-season franchise records (three-point percentage, three-pointers made per game and rebounds per game) that might have a change to be broken in 2026/27, along with the players who could break them (Cam Spencer, Ty Jerome and Zach Edey, respectively). As Cole notes, Jerome and Edey would need to stay healthy to have a chance to set those marks after they were limited to 26 combined games in 2025/26.