Indiana Pacers add more wing depth, sign JaKarr “SpongeBob” Sampson

The Indiana Pacers added some more length to the roster with the recent addition of JaKarr Sampson, a 26-year-old forward out of St. John’s University.

It appears the Indiana Pacers weren’t done making moves when they added Justin Holiday earlier this week. As it turns out, the front office was eyeing additional wing depth to add to the team’s training camp roster. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, JaKarr Sampson has agreed on a one-year deal with the team.

Over his four-year NBA career, Sampson has averaged 5.5 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. So far, he’s had stints with the Philadelphia 76ers, Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets, and Chicago Bulls. Aside from his time with Chicago last season, the 6-foot-9 forward has primarily come off the bench in limited roles for bad teams. The change of scenery certainly won’t be the only foreign aspect to Sampson’s new transition; being on a team that can win basketball games might take some getting used to as well.

By the way, he’s also a giant SpongeBob SquarePants fan, so much so that he’s picked up the nickname “SpongeBob Sampson,” which is incredible.

For the majority of the 2018-19 season – and a large portion of his professional basketball career – the 26-year-old stewed in the G-League. This time around, it was with the Windy City Bulls, and Sampson wasn’t going to blow the opportunity.

In 23 games with Windy City, he averaged 21.1 points and 9.1 rebounds on 54% shooting. His play was rewarded with a 10-day contract at the end of March and allowed him his first NBA minutes since the finale of the 2017 regular season.

Sampson appeared in four regular season games with the Bulls last season and averaged 20.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in 31.8 minutes on the floor. It wasn’t exactly a massive sample size, but he was able to shoot 60% on his two-point attempts while still attempting 3.5 shots from behind the arc – his previous career-high was 1.7 attempts from three during his rookie season.

After playing two seasons at St. John’s, JaKarr Sampson went unselected in the 2014 NBA draft before being signed by the Philadelphia 76ers. He spent a season and a half there before he was waived prior to the trade deadline in 2016. He spent the following season with the Iowa Energy before being named a G-League All-Star in 2017. After going unsigned last off-season, the forward played a handful of games in China before agreeing to a deal with the Bulls in January. Here’s to hoping the Indiana Pacers become a more long-term stop for Sampson.