Swanigan’s cause of death has not yet been revealed. He hadn’t played in the NBA since the spring of 2020, when he returned to the Portland Trail Blazers for a second stint.
Purdue’s athletic department tweeted, ‘Our thoughts and prayers to Caleb Swanigan’s family and friends.’ ‘Last night, the world lost a gentle soul.’
Swanigan was named Big Ten Player of the Year and a first-team consensus All-American in 2017 after a stellar sophomore season at Purdue.
The Blazers selected him with the 26th overall pick in the NBA Draft that June.
Swanigan battled weight issues with the Blazers and Sacramento Kings for parts of two seasons.
Coming out of Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he was a sought-after recruit. Swanigan was named Indiana’s Mr. Basketball in 2015, honoring the state’s best men’s basketball player.
Swanigan’s former teammate, Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic, expressed his condolences on Twitter: ‘My heartfelt condolences to Caleb Swanigan’s family.’
Former Kings intern Nate Macay tweeted, “Heartbroken hearing Caleb Swanigan passed away.”
‘When he played in Sacramento, he gave away so many tickets to local groups, and I’ll never forget how excited families were when I gave them his cheer cards at games when I interned for the team.’ Caleb, rest in peace.’
Swanigan had taken up music off the court and was rapping under the moniker ‘Slyy5jackk.’ ‘Thoughts/THOTS’ was the title of a 2021 release, and he was rumored to be working on a new album.