Former NBA forward Caleb Swanigan died on Monday night, according to an announcement from his alma mater of Purdue (Twitter link). Swanigan was 25 years old.
Swanigan spent two seasons with the Boilermakers from 2015-17, enjoying a breakout season as a sophomore. He averaged 18.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 35 games in 2016/17, earning consensus first-team All-American honors and the Big Ten Player of the Year award.
The 26th overall pick in the 2017 draft, Swanigan spent his rookie year the Trail Blazers, then was traded to Sacramento midway through his second NBA season. He was sent back to Portland about a year later. In total, he appeared in 75 NBA games across three seasons, averaging 2.3 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 8.7 minutes per contest for the Blazers and Kings.
Swanigan battled obesity and spent time in homeless shelters during his childhood before becoming a star at Purdue, as Myron Medcalf of ESPN detailed in a 2017 profile.
Our condolences go out to Swanigan’s friends and family.
Dam RIP Biggie Swanigan… boy was a beast in the post. A Purdue legend no doubt. I wanna say he won a gold medal with USA on their u17 or u19 team sometime in the mid 2010s
Man. What a shame for that young man. He overcame such adversity to get to where he was but it seems that same adversity meant he had very little guidance and support around him once he made it pro.
RIP I was thinking how he dominated the college game the other day, but never could find his ‘niche’ in the NBA. God needed a basketball player for a pickup game up there in heaven. Prayers to his family/friends during this tragic time, and allow them to mourn and grieve in private.
It feels like we’ve been losing too many young athletes lately, adreian Payne, Dwayne Haskins, Marion Barber, Jeff gladney, now Caleb Swanigan. Just too many. May all their souls rest peacefully.
A routine roadside check?
The amount of prayers I have said today is astonishing.
RIP. I’m shook how little time it took for a pro athlete like that to turn into what he had become. It’s very sad.
You do realize it’s says his childhood right nothing about what he was doing once his career ended in the NBA RIP big man
You do realize Caleb went from 280 pounds to 450 within 9 months of leaving the NBA, right?
Nope
Google is amazing. Better than taking out your a**
RIP Caleb. You were incredible at Purdue.
Damn. This guy could have been so much. He wasnt really used correctly, and didnt get many opportunities, but he also struggled with his weight after making an unbelievable transformation to even get to where he was. I followed his story for a while, and this is sad to see, not that it wouldnt still be sad otherwise, but just as such a young talented person that worked hard to get himself out of a situation
He played like both a college star and a future pro at Purdue. I kept thinking he would “swan out”, out west.
How does a 25 year old pass away from natural causes?