Sam Perkins

Sam Perkins

Sam Perkins in 2012
Personal information
Born	(1961-06-14) June 14, 1961 (age 55) Brooklyn, New York
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High school	Shaker (Latham, New York)
College	North Carolina (1980–1984)
NBA draft	1984 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4th overall
Selected by the Dallas Mavericks
Playing career	1984–2001
Position	Power forward / Center
Number	41, 44, 14
Career history
1984–1990	Dallas Mavericks
1990–1993	Los Angeles Lakers
1993–1998	Seattle SuperSonics
1998–2001	Indiana Pacers
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Rookie First Team (1985) USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year (1984) NCAA champion (1982) 2× Consensus first-team All-American (1983, 1984) Consensus second-team All-American (1982) 3× First-team All-ACC (1982–1984)
Career NBA statistics
Points	15,324 (11.9 ppg)
Rebounds	7,666 (6.0 rpg)
Blocks	933 (0.7 bpg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Men's basketball Representing  United States Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Team competition Pan American Games 1983 Caracas Team competition FIBA U19 World Championship 1979 Salvador Team competition

Samuel "Sam" Perkins (born June 14, 1961) is an American retired professional basketball player. He won a gold medal with the US national team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Known by the nicknames "Sleepy Sam" and "Big Smooth", he attended Samuel J. Tilden High School, Shaker High School and the University of North Carolina, where he was a teammate of future Hall of Famers James Worthy and Michael Jordan. A member of the 1982 NCAA Tournament championship winning Tar Heel squad, he was selected with the fourth pick of the 1984 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks and played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2001.

In 2008, Perkins was named vice president of player relations for the Indiana Pacers, for whom he played from 1999–2001.

In September 2008, Perkins was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame along with NBA stars Kenny Anderson and Rod Strickland, coach Pete Gillen and pioneers Lou Bender and Eddie Younger.

In October 2011, Perkins also traveled to South Sudan as a SportsUnited Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State. In this function, he worked with Dikembe Mutombo to lead a series of basketball clinics and team building exercises with 50 youth and 36 coaches. This helped contribute to the State Department's mission to remove barriers and create a world in which individuals with disabilities enjoy dignity and full inclusion in society.