Former Knicks draft pick Michael Wright found dead of head wound and covered in garbage bags in SUV in Brooklyn: officials
Fourteen years ago, Knick draft pick Michael Wright was a University of Arizona basketball star.
On Tuesday, the 35-year-old basketball player who brought his game to Europe, was found dead in Brooklyn, sprawled out in the back of his Lexus SUV — possibly killed by a man he met on a gay dating app, police sources said.
Wright was found dead from a head wound inside his Lexus SUV on E. 16th St. in Midwood about 11 a.m. Tuesday, officials said. His body was covered in black garbage bags.
Autopsy results had not been released Wednesday evening, but police are investigating his death as a homicide, law enforcement sources said.
Wright’s grieving family was left bewildered.
“We are in disbelief,” Wright’s cousin Randolph Berry, 40, of Chicago told the News. “They’re telling us it’s foul play. His mom is on her way to New York now.”
Berry said he didn’t know why someone would hurt his cousin, who on the court was an imposing 6-foot-8 power forward.
Michael Wright, a former Arizona Wildcat who had been drafted by the Knicks and recently was playing overseas, was found dead Tuesday in his SUV in Brooklyn.
Michael Wright, a former Arizona Wildcat who had been drafted by the Knicks and recently was playing overseas, was found dead Tuesday in his SUV in Brooklyn. “He’s a gentle giant,” Berry said. “He was a good person.”
Wright’s roommates at a palatial home in Closter, N.J. reported the basketball player missing on Sunday.
On Tuesday, an NYPD cruiser equipped with a license plate reader found Wright’s SUV on E. 16th St. near Ave. I, officials said.
Wright was found lying on the back seat, dead from a skull fracture, police sources said.
The vehicle had been sitting on the street since Sunday, neighbors told police.
Detectives are investigating the possibility that he was killed by someone he met on a gay dating app, Grinder, police sources said.
Berry said he didn’t know if his cousin was gay.
“We don’t know anything about his personal life.” Berry said. “All we know is that he did damage overseas. When he played ball, he destroyed everyone in front of him.”
Wright was a forward for the Arizona Wildcats between 1998 and 2000. He was drafted by the Knicks in 2001, but never made it onto the roster, colleagues said.
Wright’s body was discovered inside a white SUV parked on E. 16th St. near Ave. I after he’d been reported missing from New Jersey, officials said.
Wright’s body was discovered inside a white SUV parked on E. 16th St. near Ave. I after he’d been reported missing from New Jersey, officials said. He ended up joining the overseas basketball circuit and played in Poland, Turkey and France, family members said.
"He left his French team in February and was planning to go back to Europe and play," Berry said. "He wasn't planning on retiring."
Wright’s love of basketball started at Farragut Career Academy in Chicago, where he shared the court with NBA star Kevin Garnett, according to his former coach William “Wolf” Nelson.
"The class he graduated with was one of the best in Illinois history,” Nelson told the Chicago Sun Times. “They had four McDonald's All-Americans. He was that good.”
(He was) just a great person that was always underrated because of who he played with in high school," Nelson said.
At the University of Arizona, Wright was considered “one of college basketball’s finest and most physical power forwards,” according to the team website. He also was a leading rebounder in each of his three seasons in Tucson.
In January, Wright signed with Cholet Basket, a pro team out of Cholet, France, but left the team a month later, according to the team’s website.
