Michael Wright

Michael Wright — Biography

Born on January 7, 1980 in Chicago, Michael Wright was an American-Turkish power forward. He began playing basketball at Chicago's Farragut Career Academy alongside future NBA star Kevin Garnett, and in 1998 he was the leading scorer for the United States junior national team that won the world championship. He went on to play at the University of Arizona in 2001, helping his team reach the NCAA championship game.

Wright launched his European career at Śląsk Wrocław in Poland in 2002, winning a championship and being named the league's best player that season; he then reached the playoff final with Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel in 2003, was named MVP of the FIBA Europe League All-Star game in 2004, and helped ALBA Berlin finish atop the German regular-season standings in 2005. His time in Turkey began with Beşiktaş in 2005-06, followed by a stint at Pau-Orthez in France and later spells with Türk Telekom Basketbol and Trabzonspor Basketbol. He obtained Turkish citizenship at the end of 2010 and adopted the name Ali Karadeniz, going on to play for Mersin Büyükşehir Belediyesi and, in his final season, for Cholet in France.

On November 10, 2015, Wright was found dead in his car in New York; his death was investigated as a murder, and subsequent press reports raised unsettling questions about the circumstances surrounding it.