Elden Campbell, NBA champion with Pistons and Clemson’s all-time scoring leader, dies at 57

Elden Campbell, who was a star center at Clemson and the school’s all-time scoring leader before playing 15 seasons in the NBA, died Tuesday. He was 57.

Clemson confirmed his death Wednesday morning. No cause was given.

Campbell, a 6-foot-11 big man known for his smooth athleticism and laid-back style on the court, starred at Clemson from 1986 to 1990. He scored 1,880 points with the Tigers, a record that still stands 35 years later, before the Lakers drafted him with the 27th pick in 1990. A Los Angeles native, Campbell played the first eight and half seasons of his NBA career with the team.

“I am deeply saddened to learn of Elden Campbell’s passing,” said Cliff Ellis, Campbell’s head coach at Clemson. “Elden was a great player for four years, especially in 1989-90 when he was a major reason we won Clemson’s only ACC regular season championship. He went on to a 15-year career in the NBA and won a World Championship.”

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. pic.twitter.com/bWP6wAcsn9

— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) December 3, 2025

As a freshman, Campbell helped the Tigers to a 25-6 record and the NCAA Tournament as former NBA great Horace Grant’s backup center in 1986-87. Campbell averaged a career-best 18.8 points per game and was a third-team All-ACC selection as a sophomore. He earned second-team All-ACC honors as a junior while averaging 17.5 points per game as the Tigers made a run to the NCAA Tournament.

As a senior, Campbell and Dale Davis led Clemson to a 26-9 record and the school’s lone ACC regular-season title, advancing to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16.

As a rookie during Magic Johnson’s last full NBA season, Campbell was a reserve on a Lakers team that reached the 1991 NBA Finals against the Chicago Bulls. He played six total minutes through the first four games of the series before scoring 21 points in 27 minutes in a Game 5 loss that allowed Chicago to clinch its first championship.

Campbell became a mainstay for the Lakers during the years between the franchise’s Showtime era and the Shaquille O’Neal- and Kobe Bryant-led teams that restored the Lakers to championship glory in the early 2000s.

In 618 regular-season games for the Lakers, Campbell averaged 10.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. The franchise traded him and guard Eddie Jones to the Charlotte Hornets during the 1998-99 season for a package of players headlined by Glen Rice.

Campbell played some of his best basketball after arriving in Charlotte that season, averaging 15.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game over the final 32-game stretch. He finished his career with per-game averages of 10.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists.

In contrast to the larger-than-life personalities of former teammates such as Johnson, O’Neal and Bryant, Campbell was recognized for his calmer demeanor.

Former Lakers guard and coach Byron Scott was teammates with Campbell for four seasons in L.A. “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.”

Cedric Ceballos, who knew Campbell growing up in Los Angeles and spent several seasons alongside him with the Lakers in the mid-’90s, reacted to the news on social media.

“This one hurt to the bone,” Ceballos wrote in an Instagram post. “Grew up as kids together.”

Although Campbell witnessed the end of the Showtime Lakers against Chicago and was traded to Charlotte the season before the franchise embarked on its three-peat championship run, Campbell eventually got his hands on the Larry O’Brien trophy in 2004. Campbell was a key reserve on the Detroit Pistons team that defeated the Lakers in the NBA Finals in five games, dethroning Los Angeles’ O’Neal-Bryant dynasty.

Former Piston and 2004 NBA Champion Elden Campbell passes away at the age of 57: https://t.co/EwQMmTMtKI pic.twitter.com/A8lfxlSjRW

— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) December 3, 2025

Campbell also played for the Seattle SuperSonics and New Jersey Nets in his 1,044-game NBA career. He was inducted into the Southern California Basketball Hall of Fame in May 2025.