Kentucky Shooting Guard Terrance Clarke passed away Thursday after sustaining fatal injuries in a car accident in Los Angeles, California. Clarke was 19 years old and a Boston native who was preparing for the 2021 NBA draft after playing a season at the University of Kentucky. Clarke and his teammate Brandon Boston Jr. finished up a workout together and Boston was driving behind Clarke and witnessed the whole accident. The 19-year-old guard is reported to have run a red light at a high speed and run into a car making a left turn and went on to hit a pole and a block wall. The accident happened at 2:10 p.m. and it was later discovered that Clarke was not wearing a seatbelt. 

Clarke was born on Sept. 6, 2001, in Boston, Massachusetts. He grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts, where he would be known to put in practice at Vine Street Community Center. He played his high school basketball at the Rivers School in Weston before finishing his high school career at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Clarke was considered one of the best prospects in the 2020 class, despite reclassifying from the 2021 class. He had offers from other big-time programs, before ultimately committing to the University of Kentucky in early September 2019. 

During his time at Kentucky, he managed to average 9.6 points, 2 assists, and 2.6 rebounds in eight games. While he did not have the best time at Kentucky, he went on to declare for the 2021 NBA draft and pursue his dreams of reaching the NBA. Since the end of his collegiate season, Clarke was traveling across the United States and working out with NBA trainers that were going to get him ready for draft workouts with NBA teams and to be as best prepared as possible to get drafted. The day before he got involved in the deadly accident, he signed a deal with Klutch Sports agency to help him achieve his goal of getting to the NBA.

Clarke was a projected second-rounder with most of the mock drafts predicting he was going to get drafted by the Boston Celtics. This is a big loss for the basketball community and Clarke’s life was taken away way too soon. RIP Terrence Clarke.