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NBA champion and former Los Angeles Lakers center Elden Campbell is dead at 57, his alma mater Clemson announced Wednesday.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
“We mourn the loss of Elden Campbell, our all-time leading scorer, All-American and three-time All-ACC player, who passed away at the age of 57,” Clemson said in a statement.
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Elden Campbell of the Los Angeles Lakers takes a foul shot during the Washington Bullets game at USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland, on Nov. 26, 1994. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Campbell is also the winningest player in Clemson history, as he played in a program-record 84 victories. He is also the leading scorer on the lone Clemson team that won the ACC championship in the program’s history.
Campbell played in the NBA for 15 seasons and, growing up in Inglewood, California, was a fan of the Lakers as a kid. The 6-foot-11 center played eight and a half seasons for his childhood team.
The Lakers drafted Campbell in the first round of the 1990 NBA Draft out of Clemson.
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Detroit Pistons’ Elden Campbell in action against the Heat’s Shaquille O’Neal in Miami, Florida, on May 25, 2005. (Bill Frakes/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Campbell beat the Lakers in the NBA Finals when he was a member of the Detroit Pistons in the 2003-2004 season. Campbell played in 14 games during the Pistons’ run to the title.
Campbell played for six different teams in his career: the Lakers, the Charlotte Hornets, the Pistons, the New Orleans Hornets, the Seattle SuperSonics and the New Jersey Nets. In 1,044 career games, he averaged, per game, 10.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists.
Campbell earned the nicknames “Big E” and “Easy E” for his demeanor and play style. Byron Scott, who was a teammate of Campbell’s for two separate stints with the Lakers, said he was a “good dude.”
“I just remember his demeanor. That’s why we nicknamed him ‘Easy E,’” Scott told The Los Angeles Times. “He was just so cool, nothing speeding him up. He was going to take his time. He was just easy. He was such a good dude. I loved Easy, man.”
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Washington Wizards’ Kwame Brown knocks the ball away from the Hornets’ Elden Campbell in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 5, 2002. (Nell Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)
Another one of Campbell’s former Lakers teammates, and childhood friend, Cedric Ceballos, took to social media to mourn his death.
“This one hurt to the bone. Grew up as kids together,” Ceballos posted to Instagram.
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