Ralph Lee Sampson III (born January 5, 1990) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

High school career

Sampson attended Northview High School in

Johns Creek, Georgia Johns Creek is a city in Fulton County, Georgia, United States. According to the 2020 census, the population was 82,453. The city is a northeastern suburb of Atlanta. History In the early 19th century, the Johns Creek area was dotted with t ...

. As a senior in 2007–08, he averaged 19.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.0 blocks per game in leading Northview to its first state tournament appearance and a 21-9 record.

College career

During his freshman season at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 2008–09, Sampson started every

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

game, helped the Gophers earn an NCAA tournament bid, and finished second on the team in both rebounds and blocked shots per game. Sampson started at forward and center in his sophomore and junior seasons for the Gophers and saw his minutes, points, and blocks per game increase each year. As one of the lone veterans on the team, Sampson's stats declined as a senior, when he played nearly six fewer minutes per game than he did his junior season while averaging 7.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. After injuring his knee during a practice in March, Sampson was inactive for the rest of the season, including the Big Ten tournament and the postseason NIT. He joined Kevin McHale and

Mychal Thompson Mychal George Thompson (born January 30, 1955) is a Bahamian-American former basketball player. The top overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, Thompson played the center position for the University of Minnesota and center and forward for the Na ...

as one of the few Minnesota players to amass more than 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, and 200 blocks during their respective collegiate careers.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2012 NBA draft The 2012 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2012, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Asso ...

, Sampson joined the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

for the 2012

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

. On November 2, 2012, he was selected by the

Reno Bighorns Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

in the third round of the 2012 NBA Development League Draft. He went on to average 2.3 points and 2.1 rebounds in 23 games for Reno in 2012–13.Ralph Sampson D-League Stats
/ref> On September 7, 2013, Sampson signed a one-year deal with

Nilan Bisons Loimaa LoKoKo Bisons Loimaa is a Finland, Finnish professional basketball club that is based in Loimaa. History The club was established in 1964 as Loimaan Korikonkarit. The team was renamed Bisons after it was promoted to the Korisliiga in 2011. The t ...

of the Finnish

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

. In 16 league games for Loimaa, he averaged 5.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. On November 1, 2014, Sampson was acquired by the

Maine Red Claws The Maine Celtics (formerly the Maine Red Claws) are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Portland, Maine, and are affiliated with the Boston Celtics. The Maine Celtics play their home games at the Portland Expo B ...

. In 51 games for the Red Claws in 2014–15, he averaged 5.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. On October 31, 2015, he was reacquired by the Red Claws. On August 24, 2016, Sampson's D-League rights were acquired by the

Windy City Bulls The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, from Chicago. It became the thirte ...

in the expansion draft. However, his rights would be waived before the beginning of the season, and he would be drafted to the

Northern Arizona Suns The Motor City Cruise are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Detroit, Michigan, and are affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. The Cruise play their home games at Wayne State Fieldhouse. The franchise began play a ...

on October 29 in the fifth round. On November 2, he was waived by the Suns.

Personal life

Sampson is the son of Ralph Jr. and Aleize Sampson, and has three siblings: one older sister, Rachel, a younger brother,

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, and a younger sister, Anna. His father was the number one overall pick in the 1983 NBA draft and played nine seasons in the NBA, earning NBA All-Star honors four times and Rookie of the Year honors in 1984. He was inducted into the

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

for his overall success in the sport.

References

External links

NBA D-League profileMinnesota Golden Gophers bioEurocupbasketball.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampson, Ralph III 1990 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Finland Centers (basketball) Maine Red Claws players Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball players People from Duluth, Georgia Basketball players from Gwinnett County, Georgia Power forwards (basketball) Reno Bighorns players Sportspeople from Fulton County, Georgia American men's basketball players People from Johns Creek, Georgia