Former Grizzlies and Wizards swingman Lawrence Moten was found dead Tuesday at his residence in Washington, D.C., according to a statement from his alma mater Syracuse University.
The cause of death has not yet been made public. Motenâs daughter, Lawrencia, would later say that her father was found dead at home.
Moten was selected in the second round with the 36th overall pick of the 1995 NBA Draft by the then-Vancouver Grizzlies, the second draft pick in franchise history behind “Big Country” Bryant Reeves. He appeared in 111 games across two seasons with the Grizzlies, the first two in the franchise’s existence, before leaving the NBA in the summer of 1997 when the Grizzlies declined to re-sign him.
Moten’s Grizzlies Tenure
After stints in the minor leagues and a part-season spent in Greece, Moten would return to the NBA in February 1998, when he would sign two ten-day contracts with the then-Washington Bullets. After not being picked up for the remainder of the season, he would return to the American minor leagues and the Continental Basketball Association – which at that time, before the advent of the NBA’s own developmental league, was the premier minor league in the country – joining up with the Idaho Stampede. One more attempt at the NBA would follow in the form of a January 1999 training camp contract with the New York Knicks.
Across his three teams and three seasons, Moten would appear in 119 NBA games. The 6’5 swingman – who was known by the moniker âPoetry in Motenâ for his smooth style of play – would average 6.3 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game in that span. But despite his NBA career, Moten was always best known for his time in college.
To this day, Moten remains the all-time leading scorer in Syracuse menâs basketball history, having amassed 2,334 career points between 1991 and 1995. During his time with the Orange, Moten posted a career average of 19.3 points per game and set a Big East scoring mark with 1,405 total points scored – it was a record that stood for over two decades until finally being broken in 2020 by former Marquette and Denver Nuggets guard, Markus Howard.
Post-Playing Career
Following his departure from the NBA, Moten would continue to play professionally for a few seasons, spending reported stints in both Spain and Venezuela. He also bounced around the fringe minor leagues, concluding his career in 2004 with the Maryland Nighthawks, at that time a member of the now-defunct American Basketball Association.
After his professional playing days, Moten remained active in basketball coaching, mentorship, and youth development. At the time of his passing, he was said to be working as the general manager for the boys and girls basketball teams at Digital Pioneers Academy in his home city of DC, where he had only begun working in July. Previously, he had spent time on the staffs of Gallaudet University, a Division III school also in the city specializing in deaf and hard-of-hearing students, as well as working on the staff of the women’s team at Division I Buffalo.
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