NBA champion Elden Campbell’s cause of death has been revealed … with officials telling TMZ Sports the former Laker died due to an accidental drowning.

The medical examiner in Florida says Campbell – who was 57 years old – was pronounced deceased at 8:03 PM on December 1.

https://www.tmz.com/2025/12/04/elden-campbell-cause-of-death/

EscapedTheWhirlpool | Timberwolves

67 | 5 hours ago

Elden Campbell was pretty nice during those dark Lakers days when Nick Van Exel and Cedric Ceballos were holding it down. He also had the biggest calves I’ve ever seen.

buggleduck | Lakers

19 | 4 hours ago

The mid 90’s lakers were fun to watch. Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Campbell, Divac were a fun core.

EscapedTheWhirlpool | Timberwolves

7 | 3 hours ago

Totally agree, I was at UCLA during those years and they were very fun to root for.

Aroh | Jazz

2 | 38 minutes ago

Eddie Jones my favorite player as a young buck

EscapedTheWhirlpool | Timberwolves

1 | 29 minutes ago

Hell yeah, I was so disappointed that he was traded for Rice. I remember that year where Van Exel, Jones, Kobe, and Shaq all made it and that dick George Karl don’t play them all at the same time.

grandmasterfunk | Rockets

49 | 5 hours ago

Oh jeeze didn’t see the news that he had passed away. So sad, always enjoyed his game growing up. Those Hornets teams he was on in the early 2000s were a lot of fun.

HenrikCrown | Pelicans

31 | 5 hours ago

RIP The Shaq Stopper

zeroinsideandout

18 | 5 hours ago

Terrible way to go. Rest in peace Easy.

Dymatizeee | Knicks

6 | 5 hours ago

Rip

Creative_Parsnip_385 | Warriors

5 | 5 hours ago

Aww man, hopefully he’s chilling with Chick Hearn in the sky.

rinseanddelete | Spurs

3 | 3 hours ago

Wow just now hearing about this. I was 10 when the Lakers drafted him. Gotta watch some highlights. RIP Elden.

[deleted]

2 | 5 hours ago

[removed]

cubswin987

6 | 5 hours ago

Ryan Mallet drowned

GiantBrownBalls | Raptors

4 | 4 hours ago

Not an athlete but Malcolm Jamal Warner also drowned this year.

-KFBR392 | Raptors

1 | 4 hours ago

Oh that’s who I was thinking of

passtherock- | Hawks

-5 | 4 hours ago

that’s so sad. I don’t play with water. I don’t swim I don’t float I don’t dive I don’t do nothing with water at all

ForneauCosmique | Spurs

7 | 3 hours ago

You drink it

AJC3317 | GSW

19 | 3 hours ago

Nah, never touch the stuff. Fish fuck in it

ForneauCosmique | Spurs

-3 | 3 hours ago

You….you know there’s fresh water right?

Bringdown_ | Knicks

6 | an hour ago

goldfish fuck in that… even worse

ForneauCosmique | Spurs

3 | an hour ago

Like in my cup of water???

Bringdown_ | Knicks

3 | an hour ago

Yes.

BigFatModeraterFupa | Minneapolis Lakers

2 | 34 minutes ago

you might as well be drinking whale piss

ForneauCosmique | Spurs

1 | 5 minutes ago

Does it at least have electrolytes?

lastinglovehandles | Warriors

4 | 2 hours ago

You might want to check out local YMCA for adult lessons. You don’t have to be the next Michael Phelps but you should at least learn how to float and tread water.

[deleted]

-22 | 5 hours ago

[deleted]

NeedleGunMonkey

20 | 5 hours ago

Unless you have insider information / just useless Baseless tasteless speculation.

gavinashun | Warriors

-14 | 5 hours ago

There has never been baseless speculation on reddit before.

But anyway it’s not entirely baseless: studies have shown that up to 70% of adult recreational drowning deaths involved drugs or alcohol.

PeregrineFaulkner | Warriors

6 | 5 hours ago

It was an ocean drowning, so it could have just been undertow.

gavinashun | Warriors

-3 | 5 hours ago

Fair.

Dangerous-Daikon634

-1 | 5 hours ago

sure it’s statistically possible but it’s extremely disrespectful to suggest that. you have 125k karma though so i wouldn’t expect you to understand basic social minutiae.

Elden Campbell Cause Of Death Revealed … Accidental Drowning