Former NBA player Lorenzen Wright is found dead in Memphis

The uncle of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright said Wednesday that police have told the family the athlete who had been missing for 10 days has been found dead in Memphis, Tenn.

Curtis Wright told the Associated Press that police called the player’s father, Herb Wright, with the news he had died. There was no immediate word on the cause.

Police declined to comment publicly. The Commercial Appeal cited a police source as identifying a body found in a field in southeast Memphis as Wright’s.

Nearly 50 people gathered next to a road blocked off by police beside a wooded area about 15 miles south of downtown Memphis.

The 34-year-old Wright was last seen July 18 when he was expected to fly out of town. His family filed a missing person report July 22.

Wright played 13 years in the NBA with five different teams: the Clippers, Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings and most recently the Cleveland Cavaliers with 17 games in the 2008-09 season. Wright left the University of Memphis early for the NBA, and the Clippers made him a lottery pick with the No. 7 selection overall.

He averaged 8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game in 778 career games.

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Chris Bosh’s former general manager says the player was “checked out” late last season and chose not to play some of the Toronto Raptors’ final games. Talking on radio station FAN 590 in Toronto, Bryan Colangelo said Bosh wasn’t the same player toward the end of the year.

Colangelo said on Monday’s show that whether Bosh was “mentally checked out or, you know, just wasn’t quite into it down the stretch, he wasn’t the same guy. And I think everybody saw that, just no one wanted to acknowledge it.”

Colangelo also asserted that Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade all had planned to play together years ago, even structuring their contracts so they all could become free agents together.

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USA Basketball trimmed its roster of candidates for the world championships to 15, a guard-heavy group that features Brook Lopez and Tyson Chandler as its only centers. Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans, O.J. Mayo and Gerald Wallace were cut — and Lopez might have joined them if not for his 7- foot frame on a team that badly needs height.

Kevin Durant leads three Oklahoma City players on the list that included the Clippers’ Eric Gordon.

FOOTBALL

The Carolina Panthers signed quarterback Jimmy Clausen to a four-year contract that includes $2.53 million in guarantees, ensuring they’ll have no rookie holdouts for the start of training camp.

The second-round pick from Notre Dame agreed to his deal hours before the Panthers reported to Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. He was the last of Carolina’s 10 draft selections to be signed.

The New York Jets signed veteran quarterback Mark Brunell, who backed up Drew Brees last season for the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, to a two-year contract.

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The Tennessee Titans promoted Craig Johnson to assistant head coach and running backs coach. Johnson takes over for Kennedy Pola, who left the Titans for USC on Saturday, just five months after being hired. Pola’s departure prompted the Titans to sue USC and Trojans Coach Lane Kiffin for interfering with Pola’s contract a week before training camp.

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Coach Tom Cable says offseason acquisition Jason Campbell will open training camp as the Oakland Raiders’ starting quarterback.

Campbell will open with the first string. Cable says he is going that direction because Bruce Gradkowski missed the past three months with a torn pectoral muscle.

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Albert Haynesworth must pass a conditioning test before he can practice with the Washington Redskins.

And even if he passes it, he won’t start out with the first-team defense.

The disgruntled defensive tackle met with Coach Mike Shanahan on Wednesday, the day before the Redskins open training camp. Shanahan says Haynesworth looks in good shape, but must pass the conditioning test after skipping the entire offseason program.

Haynesworth is unhappy with the Redskins’ switch to a 3-4 defense and wants a trade. Teammates have called Haynesworth selfish for staying away after accepting a $21-million bonus in April.

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Redskins offensive lineman Mike Williams is out for the year after a blood clot was discovered in his lungs.

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Several retired football players are suing the attorneys who won a $26-million settlement from the NFL Players Assn. on their behalf.

The former players, including Paul Hornung, John Brodie and Marvin Cobb, claim the lawyers should have extracted even more money from the union.

The Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and McKool, Smith law firms represented hundreds of retired football players who accused the union of failing to properly market their commercial images. A jury agreed and awarded the retired players $28 million after a November 2008 trial.

ETC.

Louisville basketball Coach Rick Pitino told a jury that a woman accused of demanding millions from him initiated sex by whispering to him and unzipping his pants in an empty Italian restaurant.

Pitino testified in Louisville, Ky., that he met Karen Cunagin Sypher on July 31, 2003, at the restaurant where he’d gone following a golf outing. Pitino, who’s married, said he bought Sypher a drink and the two exchanged small talk after the restaurant closed.

When he got up to leave, Pitino said she whispered something, opened his pants and the two then had sex “very briefly.”

“Unfortunate things happen,” Pitino said.

Sypher is charged with extortion, asking for cash, cars and a house to stay quiet about the sexual liaison. She has pleaded not guilty, claiming Pitino sexually assaulted her. Police and prosecutors have said her assault claim lacked merit.

A packed federal courtroom watched Pitino’s testimony. Sypher, sitting a few feet away at the defense table, appeared unfazed.

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The Anaheim Ducks signed defenseman Cam Fowler, the 12th overall pick in June’s entry draft, to a three-year entry-level contract. Fowler, 18, recorded eight goals and 55 points in 55 games last season with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, helping them win their second consecutive championship. Fowler won gold as a member of Team USA at both the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship and the 2009 IIHF U-18 World Championship, where he was selected the tournament’s top defenseman.

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NASCAR team owner Jack Roush remains hospitalized in serious but stable condition after walking away from a plane crash in Wisconsin on Tuesday night. In a statement, Roush Fenway Racing says Roush is under observation for facial injuries he sustained in the accident.

The team says Roush’s passenger, friend Brenda Stricklin, was treated and released from a Wisconsin hospital Wednesday afternoon.

Roush — an aviation buff who survived another crash in 2002 — was attending the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis. According to the EAA, a Beechcraft Premier business jet registered to Roush Fenway Racing, LLC was involved in a landing accident at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.

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Tiger Woods and Anthony Kim have joined the field for next week’s Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.

Woods is the defending champion and has never finished lower than fourth at the Bridgestone Invitational. It will be Kim’s first appearance on the PGA Tour in three months after taking time to heal a torn ligament in his left thumb, which required surgery.

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Kevin Coble, one of Northwestern’s top basketball players, has chosen to skip his senior season after sitting out with a broken left foot last year.