Former Purdue star, Big Ten Player of the Year Caleb Swanigan passes away at 25 years old

Swanigan was a standout for Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., before suiting up for the Boilermakers for two seasons from 2015 to 2017. The forward was named to the Big Ten All Freshman team before racking up a host of accolades as a sophomore.

During the 2016-2017 campaign, Swanigan finished first in the NCAA in rebounds (436), while finishing tops in the Big Ten in points (646), rebounds, rebounds per game (12.5), field goals (222) and free throws (164) among other categories. He was named First Team All-Big Ten, a First Team Consensus All-American, a Naismith and Wooden Award Finalist and won the Big Ten Player of the Year Award.

Swanigan was selected 26th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2017 NBA Draft and was spent parts of the next two seasons with the club. He was traded from Portland to the Sacramento Kings in February 2019, but then traded back to the Trail Blazers in January 2020.

The Fort Wayne native opted out of the 2020 NBA Bubble due to personal reasons. Swanigan finished his NBA career with averages of 2.3 points and 2.9 rebounds across 75 games (four starts).