Age: 63
Sam Perkins
Age: 63
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.
Career highlights
- Selected as the large-school player of the year in high school by the New York State Sportswriters Association in 1980.
- Member of the 1982 NCAA Champion North Carolina Tar Heels.
- Named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team as one of the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history
- Co-captain of the gold-medal winning 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team.
- Named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1984-85.
- Appeared in 164 career playoff games, averaging 11.3 ppg and 5.7 rpg.
- Recorded the first 30-20 game in Mavericks history, with 31 points and a career-high 20 rebounds, against the Houston Rockets on December 12, 1985. (Dirk Nowitzki had 33 points and 23 rebounds on February 21, 2002.)
- Scored a career-high 45 points, for the Mavericks, against the Golden State Warriors on April 12, 1990.
- Appeared against the Chicago Bulls in the 1991 NBA Finals with the L.A. Lakers and again in 1996 with the Seattle SuperSonics. He also appeared with the Indiana Pacers in the 2000 NBA Finals against the L.A. Lakers.
- Tied an NBA record by hitting 8 three-pointers without a miss with the Seattle SuperSonics against the Toronto Raptors on January 15, 1997.
- Posted a 1997-98 season-high 21 points, on perfect shooting (5-5 FG, 4-4 3FG, 7-7 FT), and 3 steals against the L.A. Clippers on December 14, 1997.
NBA career statistics
Legend | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
Regular season
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1984-85 | Dallas | 82 | 42 | 28.3 | .471 | .250 | .820 | 7.4 | 1.6 | .8 | .8 | 11.0 |
1985-86 | Dallas | 80 | 79 | 32.8 | .503 | .333 | .814 | 8.6 | 1.9 | .9 | 1.2 | 15.4 |
1986-87 | Dallas | 80 | 80 | 33.6 | .482 | .352 | .828 | 7.7 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 14.8 |
1987-88 | Dallas | 75 | 75 | 33.3 | .450 | .167 | .822 | 8.0 | 1.6 | 1.0 | .7 | 14.2 |
1988-89 | Dallas | 78 | 77 | 36.7 | .464 | .184 | .833 | 8.8 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 15.0 |
1989-90 | Dallas | 76 | 70 | 35.1 | .493 | .214 | .778 | 7.5 | 2.3 | 1.2 | .8 | 15.9 |
1990-91 | L.A. Lakers | 76 | 66 | 34.3 | .495 | .281 | .821 | 7.4 | 1.5 | .9 | 1.1 | 13.5 |
1991-92 | L.A. Lakers | 63 | 63 | 37.0 | .450 | .217 | .817 | 8.8 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 16.5 |
1992-93 | L.A. Lakers | 49 | 49 | 32.4 | .459 | .172 | .829 | 7.7 | 2.6 | .8 | 1.0 | 13.7 |
1992-93 | Seattle | 30 | 13 | 25.4 | .511 | .452 | .795 | 4.8 | .9 | .7 | 1.0 | 12.1 |
1993-94 | Seattle | 81 | 41 | 26.8 | .438 | .367 | .801 | 4.5 | 1.4 | .8 | 4 | 12.3 |
1994-95 | Seattle | 82 | 37 | 28.7 | .466 | .397 | .799 | 4.9 | 1.6 | .9 | .5 | 12.7 |
1995-96 | Seattle | 82 | 20 | 26.5 | .408 | .355 | .793 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 1.0 | .6 | 11.8 |
1996-97 | Seattle | 81 | 4 | 24.4 | .439 | .395 | .817 | 3.7 | 1.3 | .9 | .6 | 11.0 |
1997-98 | Seattle | 81 | 0 | 20.7 | .416 | .392 | .789 | 3.1 | 1.4 | .8 | .4 | 7.2 |
1998-99 | Indiana | 48 | 0 | 16.4 | .400 | .389 | .717 | 2.9 | .5 | .3 | .3 | 5.0 |
1999-2000 | Indiana | 81 | 0 | 20.0 | .417 | .408 | .825 | 3.6 | .8 | .4 | .4 | 6.6 |
2000-01 | Indiana | 64 | 41 | 15.6 | .381 | .345 | .842 | 2.6 | .6 | .5 | .3 | 3.8 |
Career | 1,286 | 757 | 28.5 | .459 | .362 | .811 | 6.0 | 1.5 | .9 | .7 | 11.9 |
Playoffs
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1985 | Dallas | 4 | - | 42.3 | .490 | .250 | .765 | 12.8 | 2.8 | .5 | .3 | 18.8 |
1986 | Dallas | 10 | - | 34.7 | .429 | .250 | .767 | 8.3 | 2.4 | .9 | 1.4 | 14.9 |
1987 | Dallas | 4 | - | 17.0 | .500 | .000 | .696 | 8.5 | 1.3 | 1.0 | .3 | 17.0 |
1988 | Dallas | 17 | - | 33.6 | .451 | .143 | .803 | 6.6 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 13.5 |
1990 | Dallas | 3 | - | 39.3 | .444 | .000 | .765 | 7.3 | 2.7 | 1.0 | .7 | 15.0 |
1991 | L.A. Lakers | 19 | 19 | 39.6 | .548 | .367 | .761 | 8.3 | 1.7 | .8 | 1.4 | 17.7 |
1993 | Seattle | 19 | 17 | 32.9 | .436 | .380 | .873 | 7.0 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 14.4 |
1994 | Seattle | 5 | 0 | 28.2 | .333 | .429 | .882 | 7.2 | .8 | .8 | .4 | 9.8 |
1995 | Seattle | 4 | 1 | 35.3 | .438 | .455 | 1.000 | 7.8 | 3.3 | .8 | 1.3 | 13.5 |
1996 | Seattle | 21 | 1 | 31.1 | .459 | .368 | .754 | 4.3 | 1.7 | .7 | .3 | 12.3 |
1997 | Seattle | 12 | 6 | 28.3 | .337 | .311 | .862 | 4.4 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 8.4 |
1998 | Seattle | 10 | 1 | 21.0 | .381 | .417 | .600 | 3.2 | 1.4 | .3 | .5 | 5.4 |
1999 | Indiana | 13 | 0 | 11.2 | .514 | .458 | .667 | 1.9 | .5 | .0 | .2 | 4.1 |
2000 | Indiana | 23 | 0 | 18.1 | .324 | .348 | .905 | 3.2 | .4 | .2 | .3 | 4.8 |
2001 | Indiana | 3 | 0 | 6.3 | .250 | .250 | - | 1.3 | .0 | .0 | .0 | 1.7 |
Career | 167 | - | 28.7 | .444 | .363 | .785 | 5.6 | 1.5 | .7 | .8 | 11.1 |