Lorenzen Vern-Gagne Wright (4 November 1975 – 19 July 2010) was an American professional basketball player.
Raised near Oxford, Mississippi, Wright played all levels of basketball in Memphis , high school, collegiate and professional. Wright was selected a Third Team All-America by the Associated Press as a sophomore at the University of Memphis.
After being selected seventh overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1996 NBA Draft out of the University of Memphis, Wright moved on to the Atlanta Hawks in 1999. He was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, but returned to the Hawks in 2006.
On February 16, 2008, he was involved in a multi-player trade, going from Atlanta to Sacramento for Mike Bibby.
He held career averages of 8.0 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
Wright founded the Sierra Simone Wright Scholarship Fund after the death of his infant daughter in March 2003. During the summer of 2003, he returned to the University of Memphis to finish his degree. His father Herb was a professional basketball player who competed in Finland.
During his first stint in Atlanta, Wright and three other Memphis-native NBA players (Todd Day, Penny Hardaway and Elliot Perry) provided financial assistance to Travis Butler, a Memphis orphan whose tragic story garnered national attention.
Wright was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated; initiated Spring 1996 to the Kappa Beta Chapter (The 12 Disciples of the Diamond).
Wright was last seen alive on 18 July 2010 and was reported missing by his family on 22 July 2010. He was found dead 28 July in a wooded area in Memphis, TN by Hacks Cross Road, near Winchester. ABC Channel 24 in Memphis reports that a 911 call was received from Wright’s cell phone at 1:00 AM 19 July; the caller was speaking with the dispatcher when several gun shots rang out.
