Elden Campbell, an NBA veteran center and champion, has died. He was 57. Campbell died suddenly on Monday, without being ill, but a cause of death has not been revealed, family sources told TMZ. The 6′11″ big man spent 15 years in the league and eventually won a championship in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons. He was drafted by his hometown team, the LA Lakers, out of Clemson in 1990, where he spent nearly nine years. On the Lakers, he found teammates in basketball legends such as Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. In the 1996-97 season, he averaged almost 15 points with the team. But his championship ring came from serving as a key bench player on the Pistons, which had Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace, to defeat the Kobe-Shaq Lakers. Campbell also played for the Seattle SuperSonics, New Jersey Nets, the Charlotte Hornets, and New Orleans. Former Laker, Byron Scott, remembered his teammate fondly.“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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