Elden Campbell

Elden Jerome Campbell (July 23, 1968 – December 1, 2025) was an American professional basketball player who was a power forward and center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1990 to 2005, primarily with the Los Angeles Lakers. He played college basketball for the Clemson Tigers, earning honorable mention All-American honors as a senior in 1990. Campbell was selected by the Lakers in the first round of the 1990 NBA draft with the 27th overall pick. He spent his first nine years in the NBA with the Lakers and the rest with various other teams. He won an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

Early life Campbell was born in Los Angeles, and attended Morningside High School in Inglewood, California, when he averaged a career-high 18.8 points per game. In the 1990 NCAA tournament, Clemson lost in the Sweet 16 to Connecticut on a buzzer-beater.

Professional career The Los Angeles Lakers selected Campbell with the 27th pick in the 1990 NBA draft. As a rookie in 1990–91, he was a reserve during Magic Johnson's last full season in the NBA, which marked the end of the Lakers' Showtime era. In the 1991 NBA Finals against the Chicago Bulls, Campbell played just six minutes in the first four games before scoring 21 points in 27 minutes in a game 5 loss that clinched the title for the Bulls. He had a breakthrough season in his fourth year in 1993–94 with averages of 12.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game for a struggling squad that suffered its worst record in 44 years with a .402 winning percentage. It launched his most productive stretch with the Lakers, a five-season span from 1993 to 1998 in which he averaged 12.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks, including a career-high 14.9 points per game in 1996–97 while playing with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. On March 10, 1999, Campbell was traded by the Lakers along with Eddie Jones to the Charlotte Hornets for Glen Rice, J. R. Reid and B. J. Armstrong; he missed out on the O'Neal- and Bryant-led Lakers teams that won three consecutive NBA championships in the early 2000s.

Campbell's longest tenures were with the Lakers and the Hornets (in both Charlotte and New Orleans); he also played with the Seattle SuperSonics and briefly for the New Jersey Nets. He played most of his final two seasons with the Detroit Pistons, winning an NBA championship in 2004 over the Lakers and losing the 2005 NBA Finals in seven games to the San Antonio Spurs. He had joined the Pistons on a two-year, $8.4 million contract in 2003, turning down more lucrative offers in order to join a championship contender. Campbell played in 65 games with 27 starts in 2003–04, averaging 5.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 13.7 minutes. After playing in just nine of Detroit's first 18 playoff games, his minutes doubled from earlier rounds and he played in every game of the 2004 NBA Finals as a valuable, big defender against Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal. Campbell was the first player off the bench for either team in game 1, when he established personal highs for that postseason of 18 minutes, six points and four assists.

Campbell's 15-year career comprised 1,044 games, of which he started 671, and 106 playoff games, of which he started 53. and he ranks third in career blocks in franchise history with 1,022.

Playoffs

Campbell died of an accidental drowning while fishing in Pompano Beach, Florida, on December 1, 2025, at age 57. He was married to Rosemary and had four children.