The Brandon Clarke Grizzlies contract payout will send his estate the full $12.5 million owed next season. Mark Bartelstein said Friday, Aug. 14 that the money is protected by a life insurance policy purchased by the Memphis Grizzlies, and the payment will be made tax-free.
The remaining salary for the 2025-26 season is being disbursed to Clarke’s estate in installments through October 2026. NBA contracts are paid in installments, so the estate does not receive the full amount at once.
Mark Bartelstein on Aug. 14
Bartelstein said Clarke’s contract was fully protected for death through the policy, ending conflicting reports about whether the estate would receive the $12.5 million owed next season. That statement gave a direct answer to the only issue that mattered to the estate: whether the contract would keep paying after Clarke’s death.
Clarke was the No. 21 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft out of Gonzaga. He signed a four-year, $50 million contract extension with Memphis in 2022, then played in just six games during the 2023-24 season because of a torn Achilles.
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office said on Friday, Aug. 7 that Clarke died from the effects of heroin and cocaine and ruled the death an accident. Authorities pronounced him dead on May 11 after he was found unresponsive in his bedroom, and a deputy medical examiner examined him at the DME's Forensic Science Center on May 12.
Clarke had finished his seventh NBA season, all with the Memphis Grizzlies. He missed all but two games in the most recent season because of calf and knee ailments.
October 2026
The payout now settles the contract question around Clarke’s death: the estate receives the full $12.5 million, and the payment arrives tax-free under the Grizzlies’ policy. For the estate, the practical result is steady disbursements through October 2026 rather than a disputed balance.
The open issue is the policy structure itself, which was not laid out in the available statements. What Bartelstein made clear is the outcome — the full amount is protected and will be paid.
