RIP to Brandon Clarke and Jason Collins

A very sad day for the NBA family on May 12. 

On Tuesday, Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke passed away at the age of 29. Later on in the day, news broke of the passing of former NBA center Jason Collins at age 47.

A 6 foot 8, 215 pound power forward, Clarke was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and played collegiately at both San Jose State and Gonzaga. In the 2019 NBA Draft, he was drafted 21st overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder and traded to the Memphis Grizzlies. 

As a rookie, Clarke averaged 12.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in 22.4 minutes per game, starting four of 58 games. He finished fourth in NBA Rookie of the Year voting. For the first five seasons of his career, Clarke averaged in the double digits in points, and for his career, he averaged 10.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in 309 games, with 50 starts, in 20.8 minutes per game. No cause was immediately available for Clarke’s passing. 

Collins, a native of Northridge, Calif., was drafted 18th overall by the Houston Rockets in 2001 after four years at Stanford University. He was named to the 2000-01 All Pac-10 team, for a season in which he averaged 14.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

In his 13-year NBA career, Collins played 735 games, divided amongst the New Jersey Nets, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards, and Brooklyn Nets. He was the starting center on the 2002-03 Nets team that won the Eastern Conference, and in 2003-04 and 2004-05 started each game that he played (78 and 80 games). Collins’ best season was with the Nets in 2004-05, when he averaged 6.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in 31.8 minutes per game. Later in his career, Collins provided a veteran presence on the talented, playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks teams, and provided the same presence on the Celtics and Wizards (2012-13) and Nets (2013-14). 

In 2013, Collins became the first active professional athlete to come out as gay. His identical twin, Jarron, played in the NBA from 2001-2011 and was an assistant with the Golden State Warriors from 2014-2021 and currently serves as an assistant with the New Orleans Pelicans. Jason had been battling stage 4 glioblastoma since 2025.

RIP to both Brandon Clarke and Jason Collins.