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The estate of late Memphis Grizzlies player Brandon Clarke will receive a life insurance disbursement for his full $12.5 million salary that was owed next season.
Agent Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports, who represented Clarke, confirmed to USA TODAY Sports Friday, Aug. 14 that Clarke’s contract was fully protected for death through a life insurance policy purchased by the Grizzlies. The full $12.5 million amount will be disbursed to Clarke’s estate tax-free.
There are multiple ways players and their representatives can negotiate life insurance policies and post-death protections in player contracts. From no coverage whatsoever, to standard death protections that count a player’s salary as a taxable event, agents can also negotiate to have the player’s team purchase the life insurance policy. This last option allows for a player’s full salary to be paid out tax-free, providing a massive benefit to the player’s estate.
As for the remaining portion of Clarke’s $12.5 million salary for the 2025-26 season that had been owed at the time of his death, Bartelstein confirmed that amount is being paid out to his estate through October 2026; NBA contracts are paid in installments, so the remaining amount will be disbursed in those regular installments.
There had been conflicting reports concerning the remaining salary on Clarke’s contract, which was set to expire at the end of the 2026-27 season. Front Office Sports reported Thursday, Aug. 13 that Clarke’s estate would not receive the $12.5 million that had been owed to him next season.
On May 12, the Grizzlies and Clarke’s representatives at Priority Sports each issued separate statements announcing Clarke’s death. He was 29 years old.
On Friday, Aug. 7, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office announced that Clarke died from the effects of heroin and cocaine and ruled the death an accident.
Clarke was pronounced dead by authorities on May 11 after being found unresponsive in his bedroom, according to the announcement. A deputy medical examiner conducted an examination of Clarke at the DME’s Forensic Science Center on May 12 and the cause and manner of death were certified Aug. 7.
Clarke was the No. 21 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft out of Gonzaga and enjoyed initial success in the league, earning all-rookie honors while averaging a career-high 12.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. He signed a four-year, $50 million contract extension with Memphis in 2022.
Clarke's sudden death happened almost six weeks after he was arrested in Arkansas for improper passing, possession of a controlled substance, fleeing and exceeding the speed limit and trafficking a controlled substance. He had just finished his seventh NBA season, all of which he spent with the Grizzlies.Clarke allegedly led Cross County Sheriff's Office deputies on a miles-long chase on April 1, with speeds reaching over 100 mph, and was found with over 230 grams of kratom in his possession, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Memphis Commercial Appeal, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Clarke's career had been derailed in recent years by injuries. He played in just six games during the 2023-24 season due to a torn Achilles and missed all but two games this past season due to calf and knee ailments.
Contributing: Mark Giannotto
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brandon Clarke's estate will receive full $12.5 million life insurance
Probable pitchers: RHP Chris Basssitt (4-4, 5.27 ERA, 37 Ks) vs. LHP Steven Matz (5-4, 5.46 ERA, 48 Ks)
Where to watch: MASN/MASN+
The Orioles had an opportunity in the immediate wake of yet another trade deadline sell-off. With series against bottom-feeder Angels and fellow Wildcard hopefuls in the Rangers and Twins, the O’s had a chance to really make up ground in their quest for a playoff spot. Instead, Baltimore went 3-6 in those series and now stare down an AL East gauntlet.
Tonight starts a four-game set against the American League-leading Rays, and the first of nine straight games against the Rays and Yankees. The good news for Birdland is that Baltimore remains only two games out of the final AL Wild Card spot. That bad news is they’ll now have to try to make up ground against a Rays team who enters on a nine-game winning streak.
The Rays will look to extending that winning streak by forcing the O’s to face their biggest weakness: a mediocre left-handed starter. Baltimore ranks 25th in team OPS and 29th in average vs. LH starting pitchers. Coby Mayo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand are lefty mashers, but the rest of the lineup has been league average or worse against southpaw starters.
The O’s were able to get after Rays’ starter Steven Matz when he visited Camden Yards in May. The journeyman left-hander only lasted three-innings that day, giving up seven hits, six runs and a majestic two-run blast off the bat of Gunnar Henderson. Matz was significantly better in an earlier may start vs. Orioles in Tropicana Field, limiting the Baltimore bats to three hits and one run over four innings in a 5-3 Rays win.
The Trop has at times been a house of horrors for the Orioles, and a sight of the O’s best victories at other times. Across this season and last season, the O’s are 3-7 in St. Petersburg, having been outscored 27-64 across those 10 games. In 2023 and 2024, however, the O’s went 10-3 in Tropicana Field en route to two playoff appearances. If the 2026 Orioles want to somehow make it back to the postseason, they’ll need to start winning in Western Florida again.
Chris Bassitt makes his first start in black and orange since landing on the IL with a back injury on June 8th. He hasn’t faced the Rays this season, but has a career 3.67 ERA with a .238 batting average against in Tropicana Field.
Despite losing the series to the Cubs, the Nats ended things on a high note thanks to a Cade Cavalli masterclass. He helped secure a winning home stand and the bats continued to thrive. Now the Nats head to New York to face a last place Mets team. However, the Mets have been playing a bit better lately.
The Nats have quite the interesting lineup today. Jose Tena has played the outfield late in games, but today he will be in left field to start. Jacob Young will be in center and Daylen Lile will move over to right. Brady House will be the DH, while Jorbit Vivas plays third and Nasim Nunez is at second. Andrew Alvarez looks to build off of back to back impressive outings.
Juan Soto is out of the lineup for the Mets, but we will be seeing Francisco Lindor. The Mets shortstop missed a couple months this season. In a disappointing season, the young duo of Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing has been a bright spot for this team. Journeyman Robert Stock will be on the mound tonight.
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Game Info:
Stadium: Citi Field
Time: 7:10 PM EST
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan
The Nats had a great performance yesterday and they will look to build off that in the road trip. Hopefully Alvarez can give the Nats something even close to as good as what they got from Cavalli. The offense led by Abi Ortiz will also look to stay hot. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!
Here’s the Padres lineup:
Here’s the Guardians lineup:
Let’s go, Guardians!
As a reminder, today’s game is on AppleTV.
Yesterday afternoon was disappointing, but taking three of four from the Red Sox still counts as a statement by a team that’s playing surprisingly well since the deadline.
The Yankees will test whether this run can amount to anything. The Jays draw Gerrit Cole today, Cam Schlittler tomorrow, and Ryan Weathers on Sunday. That’s about as tough of a pitching series matchup as it gets. But hey, we have Paul Sewald now, so there.
We got little bits of news today. Anthony Santander is apparently hitting off a tee. That’s good for him, but I’m operating under the assumption that he’s effectively medically retired until we get proof otherwise.
As mentioned, Paul Sewald is active tonight. He’s posted a really good K:BB ratio this year (44:9 in 39 innings), but 12 home runs have blown up his ERA. Hopefully either luck or a new coaching staff gets him past that issue. Lazaro Estrada goes down for the corresponding move. Due to a new rule this year, because he’s been optioned five times now this season he’d have to be DFA’d if he’s brought back and sent down again. It’s not a big thing, as he hasn’t been good this year, but it just adds one more wrinkle to an already complicated Jays pitching situation.
Go Jays Go!
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Pete Alonso is doing something Friday night that he’s never done before.
Leading off in a big league ball game.
The former Mets slugger will hit at the top of the Orioles’ lineup when they bat against the Rays in Tampa Bay.
Alonso told MLB.com’s Jake Rill that his leadoff-less stretch goes back even further than that, saying it’s the first time he’s ever come to the plate to kick off a game.
“First time for everything. Why not?” he said, per Rill.
“I’m not saying me and him are the same guy, but I’m like [Kyle] Schwarber-adjacent, you know? … I can be the right-handed Schwarber, I guess. Why not?”
Like Schwarber, Alonso, who has rebounded after a slow start in Baltimore, is about as far from the prototypical No. 1 hitter as it can get.
The burly 6-foot-3, 245-pound home run hitter has registered a 25.3 mph sprint speed this season, ranking in the bottom 8 percent of major leaguers.
Stolen bases are barely a part of his game, having swiped just 23 bags in his eight-year career, although he’s already matched a career high with five this season.
Perhaps more fitting for the leadoff spot is Alonso’s .353 on-base percentage, which is comfortably above the MLB average and the kind of mark teams look for atop the lineup.
Through the first half of the season, Alonso hit third or fourth in every game he started for Baltimore.
Shortly after the All-Star break, Alonso started appearing in the two-hole, a spot he became familiar with for a time in Queens.
Alonso spent the vast majority of his time in a Mets uniform in the cleanup spot.
Heading into the game, Alonso is hitting .259/.353/.480 with 26 home runs and 77 RBIs for the Orioles, who signed him to a five-year, $155 million free agent deal over the offseason.
That contract looked ugly early on in 2026, with Alonso hitting .198 with just four home runs over the first month-plus before turning his season around when the calendar flipped to May.
Time/Place: 6:40 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site:South Side Sox
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Jackson Jobe (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. LHP Sean Newcomb (1-3, 2.66 ERA)
| Player | G | IP | K% | BB% | GB% | FIP | fWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jobe | 1 | 5.0 | 25.0 | 6.3 | 63.6 | 2.08 | 0.2 |
| Newcomb | 44 | 64.1 | 22.8 | 8.7 | 46.2 | 2.97 | 1.4 |
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So the D-backs have dropped out of a wild-card spot, for the first time in a while. They didn’t play yesterday, but the Phillies’ victory allowed them to sneak a half-game ahead of us. I think the last time that happened was after play on July 20th, when the team was part of the NL gridlock. Just one game covered five teams, separating 6th and 10th place in the standings. The Diamondbacks have played pretty well since then, going 13-9. The main problem is, the Padres have played even better, with a 16-6 record that’s the best in the league. The bad news, as far as this particular series is concerned, is that the Braves have also been hot, with a 15-7 mark.
I do wonder whether the team was perhaps burned by rolling out the back of their rotation against the Rockies. Not that Mitch Bratt, in particular, pitched particularly badly, but it’s always a tightrope figuring out when you should play the weaker cards in your hand. For instance, presuming you and your opponent’s starters are equal in ability, you could “throw” the first game by pitching your #5 against their #1, but then have an edge in the next two games (your #1 vs their #2, and your #2 against their #3). I guess platoon tendencies are also something which could factor into these decision. Atlanta are 7th by OPS vs. RHP, but a few slots lower (10th) vs. LHP.
What would you regard as a decent result for these series against the Braves and Red Sox? Obviously, it’s on the road, and that makes things tougher. Both teams are also comfortably above .500, and we know how the team has struggled there. However, they’ve performed better of late: things like the Dodgers’ sweep definitely helped. They are now 24-31 against opponents at .500 or better, which is right in the middle, ranked 15th, and basically at MLB average (25-31). The bad news? [Yes, more!] The opponents this week are both top five. So what are you wanting to see from these six games? Here’s a poll, and as always, explain yourself in the comments.
Ahead of Friday's series opener with the Blue Jays in Toronto, Yankees manager Aaron Boone gave a few injury updates on a trio of players...
Cody Bellinger has been on the IL since late July with a hamstring strain, but it seems the All-Star outfielder could be nearing a start in the minors.
Boone said that if all goes well with Bellinger as he continues his baseball activity, he could go on a rehab assignment sometime next week. Bellinger was doing some outfield work, namely catching flyballs in left field, hours before first pitch on Friday.
He was diagnosed with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, so the initial timeline had Bellinger down for 4-6 weeks. If Bellinger gets into a rehab game next week, he would be in line with that assessment and could be activated before the end of the month. Boone did project that Bellinger would be back beforeGiancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, so his recovery is one to look out for as the Yankees hope to get back the outfielder's production.
Bellinger was slashing .259/.350/.420 with an OPS of .770 to go along with his 11 home runs and 53 RBI across 102 games this season.
Carlos Rodon made his second rehab start on Thursday, and it was successful.
The southpaw struck out seven batters across 4.1 scoreless innings with Double-A Somerset. Boone said Rodon looked good in his rehab, but was not ready to declare what Rodon's next step will be.
Rodon could make another rehab start or could be activated next week to get him stretched out in the majors. If the latter is the direction the Yankees go, Boone has already said Rodon could be part of a piggyback situation. Rodon's schedule coincides with Will Warren, so those two could be the pitchers in that situation if it comes to that.
Angel Chivilli, the right-hander who was pitching well out of the Yankees bullpen recently before being optioned, was placed on the IL by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday.
Boone confirmed the designation and said that Chivilli is suffering from "some posterior elbow stuff going on" and that a doctor will check out the pitcher soon.
In 15 appearances with the big league club, Chivilli pitched to a 3.78 ERA. He had not allowed an earned run the entire month of July (12.2 IP), but was tagged for six runs against the Cardinals back on Aug. 3.
Chivilli was optioned after the game due to the 24-year-old tossing 37 pitches in that outing.
The Yankees did sign a reliever to a minor league contract on Friday, penning Justin Topa and assigning him to Triple-A.
Topa, 35, made 23 appearances for the Twins this season and pitched to an 8.05 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP.
⚾️ First Pitch: 6:40pm – PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA
📺 TV: NESN
📻 Radio: WEEI
The Detroit Tigers were still very much in the thick of the AL Central race when they traded away ace and notable bad guy Tarik Skubal. Was he the problem with Detroit? Since his departure the Tigers have been on a tear, while the Los Angeles Dodgers have put up stinker after stinker.
What looked like it would be a semi-important series at a distance a few weeks ago has turned into likely the biggest series to date for the Chicago White Sox. With Detroit gaining three games on the White Sox in just the last 10 games, there are now just 2 ½ games separating these two teams atop the division.
In the first game of this crucial series, the Tigers are sending out Jackson Jobe to start. The third overall pick in 2021 has just come back from Tommy John surgery. In his first start of the season, on August 8, he threw five innings while allowing just one hit. The Tigers beat the Giants in that game, earning him the win.
Jobe has a five-pitch arsenal but relies heavily on the fastball and slider, with almost two-thirds of his pitches being one of the two. It’s tough to really have much of a read on him, as he has only started 11 games in his young career. With that being said, his 3.57 ERA in 13 appearances is certainly impressive.
The White Sox will throw out a pitcher much more experienced in Sean Newcomb. A mainstay in MLB since 2017, Newcomb sports a 2.66 ERA in 44 appearances this season. It would appear that Newcomb is nothing more than an opener tonight, so the main goal for him will be to try to get out of the first two or three innings unscathed.
Newcomb doesn’t generate a lot of swings and misses, but he does limit hard-hit balls. In a ballpark as pitcher-friendly as Comerica, the Tigers will certainly have to play small-ball if they want to get to him early. Unfortunately, Newcomb is susceptible to the bat of Javier Báez, who is hitting .500 against Newcomb in 14 career at-bats.
The White Sox will have to be careful in this series as the Tigers have the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals on deck after this weekend. If Chicago slips up and loses the series, or even get swept, the Tigers could quickly take control of the divisional race.
On the bright side, with the rest of the division struggling to do much since the All-Star break, a series win for the White Sox would make their divisional lead that much more secure. Who knows, maybe there’s even a sweep in store.
Here are the starting lineups:
First pitch is at 5:40 p.m. CDT. The game will be televised on CHSN and can be heard on ESPN Chicago 1000. Drop your predictions and thoughts down below!
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SP: Robert Stock – RHP
SP: Andrew Alvarez – LHP
First pitch: 7:10 PM EDT
TV: WPIX
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2
San Diego Padres (65-57) at Cleveland Guardians (59-63), August 14, 2026, 4:10 p.m. PST
Watch: Padres.TV
Location: Progressive Field – Cleveland, Ohio
Listen: 97.3 The Fan
Please remember our Game Day thread guidelines.
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Picking a name for a new professional sports team is tricky. You want to do something creative, but also tie into the fabric of the city. Cleveland’s new WNBA team tried to do that when they unveiled their name as the Sirens. And according to those we surveyed, they were successful.
Earlier this week, we asked people to grade the name of the Sirens. Almost two-thirds of those surveyed gave the new team name either an “A” or “B” grade, with 39% giving it an “A.”
It’s worth pointing out that 21% gave the Sirens name a “D” or an “F” grade.
Doing something new and creative is a risk. Resurrecting a name like the Rockers or one that ties closely into the Cleveland Cavaliers would’ve been safer. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that there were a number of people who didn’t like the bold choice.
Overall, it’s hard to criticize the Cleveland WNBA team for their brand rollout. They’ve done an excellent job of messaging their position and explaining why they went in this direction. They’ve made it clear that they want to be their own team, separate from the Cavs. And they’ve done that in an interesting and creative way.
The Sirens will start playing at the start of the 2028 season.
The Cavs open up their regular season in just about two months. FanDuel currently gives them the sixth-highest odds to win the Eastern Conference at +1000. They’re behind the New York Knicks (+300), Philadelphia 76ers (+400), Boston Celtics (+500), Detroit Pistons (+800), and Toronto Raptors (+1000).