Peachtree Hoops: ABC to premiere in-depth production on Lorenzen Wright’s murder Friday

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Photo by D. Lippitt/Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images

The former Hawk will be the focus of a two-hour special on network television to start the weekend.

The murder of a former Atlanta Hawk will be revisited on national television Friday night.

ABC’s “20/20” is premiering a two-hour broadcasts going in-depth in the killing of Lorenzen Wright at 9 p.m. ET.

Wright was shot and killed in July 2010. His death in Memphis has been one of the more high-profile murder mysteries over the last decade. In 2015, Sports Illustrated did a three-part series on it.

The case was considered cold for seven years until officers found a gun near Wright’s old residence. The investigation reopened and arrests were made.

Last summer, Wright’s ex-wife, Sherra Wright Robinson, entered a guilty plea to facilitation of murder. In 2015, Robinson published a novel “Mr. Tell Me Anything,” which is about a complicated love story that led into a troubled marriage, according to its online description. She met her next boyfriend, journalist Kelvin Cowans, while doing an interview promoting her novel. The couple broke up after nearly three years, and Cowans said he felt Robinson became obsessed on how to get more money following Wright’s death.

ABC teased Friday night’s production with never-before-known facts and perspectives of the case.

Wright began his career with the L.A. Clippers, but played with the Hawks for two seasons in 1999-00 and 2000-01. He averaged a career-high 12.4 points to go along with 7.5 rebounds and .9 blocks a night in 00-01.

Wright, Brevin Knight and the rights to some guy named Pau Gasol were traded to the Grizzlies on draft night 2001 for Shareef Abdur-Rahim. After five seasons in Memphis, near hometown Oxford, Mississippi, Wright returned to the Hawks in free agency in 2006. It was the same offseason the Hawks signed Speedy Claxton, and the NBA tried the synthetic ball, which lasted for four months.

Wright’s role decreased significantly in his second stint with Atlanta, averaging 15.4 minutes per night in 67 games and 31 starts. The following season, he appeared in 18 games and made one start before being traded to Sacramento as a part of the Mike Bibby 2008 deadline deal. Wright spent his last season with the rising LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2008-09 season.

He lived in Atlanta post career, but often returned to Memphis to co-parent with his ex-wife.

He was killed the next summer at the age of 34.

Former Atlanta Hawks vice president of communications Arthur Triche offered his condolences once ABC posted the trailer of Friday’s production.

#RIPBigRen https://t.co/UIYwKrR7Ul

— exhoopsprguy (@exhoopsPRguy) September 16, 2020

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