Caleb Swanigan during a Portland Trail Blazers game in the 2017 Summer League.
Foto:
Ethan Miller / Getty Images
Former Trail Blazers and Sacramento Kings player Caleb Swanigan died Monday at a Fort Wayne hospital in Indiana.as reported by the Portland currency on its social networks.
Swanigan, 25, would have died of natural causes, although no further details have been officially obtained. about the death of the player who was chosen by the Trail Blazers themselves in the first round of the 2017 draft.
“We are devastated by the death of our former Trail Blazers player, Caleb Swanigan. Our thoughts and prayers are with Caleb’s family, friends, and all those who loved him. Rest in peace,” the Portland account wrote via his Twitter.
For your part Purdue University, where the former power forward did his university career, initially dedicated a few words to him when announcing the news and later a video where he compiled the great moments he lived playing in the NCAA.
“Rest in peace, Biggie. Fly high”, was the description that accompanied the video that served as a dedication.
According to various American media, Swanigan always had to deal with overweight issues, weighing as much as 360 pounds in 8th grade.. As if that were not enough, his father suffered from drug addiction and had to be adopted by sports agent Roosevelt Barnes and move to Indiana.
‘Biggie”s performance from his earliest years in basketball led him to represent the US team at the FIBA U17 World Championship in 2014where he won the gold medal after helping his team win the competition undefeated (7-0).
In the final of the tournament, Swanigan played 11:50 minutes in which he scored six points and throughout the championship he contributed 8 points per game and 5.8 rebounds.
Posteriorly He stood out in the NCAA with Purdue, especially in his second year where he totaled 18.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists.; this opened the doors for him to the NBA draft, being selected in 26th place of the first round by the Portland Trail Blazers.
In total, Swanigan appeared in 75 NBA games in three seasons from 2017 to 2020. in which he got 2.3 points and 2.1 rebounds on average per game.
His last chance to play in the NBA was in the “bubble” of 2020, which he chose not to play due to “personal reasons”. Since then he has not returned to the courts.
In 2021 he was caught on camera by fans who judged his fitness by gaining 143 pounds in just one year and Portland star Damian Lilliard had to come to his defense.
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