NBA.com: Sam Perkins Bio

The Dallas Mavericks chose him with the fourth overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, one slot after the Chicago Bulls drafted Jordan. Sam Perkins has enjoyed a wealth of success on the basketball court. He owns an NCAA championship ring and an Olympic gold medal, and he has reached the NBA Playoffs in 13 of his 15 pro seasons. Once tough inside, "the Big Smooth" has developed into more of an outside player in the latter stages of his career, a center who can hit the three-point shot and pass out of the high post.

As a rookie with the Mavericks in 1984-85, Perkins averaged 11.0 points and 7.4 rebounds (18.8 ppg in the playoffs) and made the NBA All-Rookie Team. For the next five years in Dallas he averaged between 14.2 and 15.9 points and between 7.5 and 8.6 rebounds. The Mavericks made the playoffs in four of those seasons, and in 1987-88 the team advanced to the Western Conference Finals. That squad had a fearsome frontcourt in Perkins, Mark Aguirre, and Roy Tarpley.

In 1990 Perkins opted for free agency and signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. Reunited with Worthy on a team that featured Magic Johnson, the veteran Lakers finished second in the Pacific Division that year but then made a surprising run in the playoffs, reaching the 1991 NBA Finals against the Chicago Bulls. In the Lakers' only win in that series, Perkins nailed a last-second three-point shot for the victory.

He was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics during the 1992-93 season and has continued to prosper as a three-point-shooting center on the talented Sonics squads. In 1995-96, as a reserve and spot starter, he was one of only two Seattle players to appear in all 82 games and helped the Sonics represent the Western Conference in the 1996 NBA Finals.

1999-2000:
Notched 22 points (6-6 3-FG) and 7 rebounds in a 104-83 win at Toronto on 4/2....Scored 16 points (6-7 FG) in a 103-97 loss in Philadelphia on 1/22.... Tallied 12 points and 9 rebounds in a 106-84 win over Milwaukee on 1/19....Registered 19 points (3-7 3 FG) and 7 rebounds in a 113-103 win over Seattle on 12/21....Totaled 16 points and 8 rebounds in a 90-87 OT loss in San Antonio on 11/16.

1998-99:
Scored in double-figures in 8 games....Scored 15 points against the Miami Heat on 4/18....Posted 10 points (5-8 FG) and a game-high 11 rebounds in a 91-74 victory over the Chicago Bulls 4/7....Registered 15 points (2-4 3FG) and 4 rebounds against the New York Knicks on 3/30....Scored 10 points (3-4 FG, 2-3 3FG, 2-2 FT), in 16 minutes, against the Philadelphia 76ers on 3/17....Recorded 11 points (4-4 FG) and 3 rebounds in a 99-95 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on 2/18....Made his Pacers debut, totaling 9 points and 7 rebounds, in a 96-81 victory over the Washington Wizards on 2/5.

1997-98:
Scored a game-high 18 points (7-9 FG, 3-5 3FG), in 17 minutes, in a 114-80 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on 3/14....Recorded 16 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in a 97-91 overtime victory over the Miami Heat on 3/3....Totaled 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists in a 101-100 victory over the L.A. Clippers on 2/23....Scored 16 points and grabbed 8 rebounds against the Sacramento Kings on 1/26....Posted 21 points, on perfect shooting (5-5 FG, 4-4 3FG, 7-7 FT), and 3 steals in a 107-101 win over the L.A. Clippers on 12/14.

1996-97:
Perkins played in 81 games for Seattle, all but four of them as a reserve....Averaged 11.0 ppg, matching the career-low set in his rookie season, and his 1,976 minutes minutes represented his first time in 13 seasons under 2,000....Perkins ranked second on the Sonics with 122 three-pointers and a solid .395 shooting percentage from behind the arc....Also was third on the team in blocks with 49 and fourth in steals with 69....Perkins scored a season-high 26 points in a 122-78 romp over Toronto on 1/15....In that game he tied an NBA record by sinking eight three-point field goals in a game without a miss....Received eight stitches above his left eye as a result of an elbow blow during a game against New Jersey on 3/7....Sat out Seattle's game against Portland on 3/, breaking a streak of 288 consecutive games played....Started six of Seattle's 12 playoff games at center, appearing as a reserve in the other six. He averaged 8.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.00 blocks in 28.3 minutes per game.

1995-1996:
Perkins averaged 11.8 ppg to finish in double figures in scoring for the 12th consecutive season as he helped the Sonics to a berth in the NBA Finals against the Chicago Bulls with his solid play as a frontcourt reserve and spot starter....One of only two Seattle players to appear in all 82 regular season games, making 20 starts....Ranked second on the team in three-pointers with 129 and in free throw percentage at .793, and fourth in rebounds at 4.5 rpg and steals at 1.01 spg....Had two of his best games of the season against Dallas, his first NBA team.....Scored a season-high 26 points, including six three-pointers, in just 26 minutes against the Mavericks on 3/15, and hauled down a season-high 15 rebounds against Dallas on 12/12.....Played in all 21 of Seattle's playoff games, playing mostly at center but making one start at forward in place of the suspended Shawn Kemp in the first-round series against Sacramento, and averaged 12.3 ppg. His 32 three-pointers were second-most on the team.

1994-95:
Perkins posted a double-figure scoring average for the 11th consecutive season in 1994-95....Averaged 12.7 points and 4.9 rebounds on a Seattle SuperSonics club that won 57 regular-season games but fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs....Perkins had the unusual role of a center whose specialty was long-range shooting....Led the team in three-pointers made (136), and his .397 accuracy rate from behind the arc ranked 23rd in the NBA....Seattle employed a variety of starting lineups during the campaign, and Perkins was a starter for 37 games. Otherwise, he was used as an offensive spark off the bench....Whether he started or not didn't seem to matter to Perkins, whose stoic expression and deliberate approach contrasted with the Sonics' exuberant style....Recorded highs of 31 points and 12 rebounds and shot .466 from the floor and .799 from the line for the year....Scored his 10,000th career point on December 4 against the Minnesota Timberwolves....In the playoffs, Perkins started two of the four games, averaging 13.5 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting .455 from three-point territory (10-of-22).

1993-94:
Coming off a surprising long-distance shooting performance in the 1993 NBA Playoffs, Perkins continued his unlikely development as a three-point specialist in 1993-94....The 6-foot-9 center had never made more than 24 three-pointers in any of his previous nine seasons, but he nailed 99 of 270 in his 10th NBA campaign...."Big Smooth" led the Sonics in both three-pointers made and attempted, and his .367 three-point percentage ranked 26th in the NBA....His presence on the perimeter gave Seattle's offense an added dimension, while giving headaches to opposing centers. In one incredible outburst on 11/ 9, Perkins hit all 7 of his three-point attempts-tying an NBA record-en route to 28 points.....For the season, Perkins appeared in all 82 games, starting 41, and recorded 12.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.....On 12/4 the Sonics' cocaptain quietly scored his 10,000th career point in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

1992-93:
Playing without Magic Johnson for a second straight season, the Lakers began to commit to their youth in 1992-93 and let Byron Scott and A. C. Green go to free agency after the season, making room for rising talents Anthony Peeler and Elden Campbell and traded Perkins to the Seattle SuperSonics in February, largely for the rights to unsigned rookie Doug Christie, although veteran center Benoit Benjamin also came to Los Angeles in the deal....Played 49 games with the Lakers before the trade, averaging 13.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.04 blocks....In 30 games with the Sonics, he won playing time on a talented front line that also included Shawn Kemp, Michael Cage, and Derrick McKey....Started 13 times with Seattle and averaged 12.1 points and 4.8 rebounds in 25.4 minutes per game.....Came alive for Seattle in the postseason, revealing a three-point shooting touch he had kept hidden from the rest of the league through the first nine seasons of his career....The veteran's 24 three-pointers in the 1992-93 campaign marked a career high.....But then, unleashed by Sonics Coach George Karl, Perkins hit 30 treys in only 19 postseason games....Shot .380 (30-of-79) from long range during the playoffs and averaged 14.4 points.....Seattle pushed Phoenix to seven games in the Western Conference Finals before losing in the final game....Perkins hit a key three-pointer with 9.8 seconds remaining in Game 2 against the Suns to help seal a 103-99 victory.

1991-92:
Perkins struggled through an injury-plagued season in 1991-92, although he did post the highest scoring average (16.5 ppg) of his career....The eight-year veteran appeared in only 63 games, missing the final 16 contests and all of the postseason with a sprained left shoulder....In a season darkened by Magic Johnson's retirement announcement in November, Perkins was one of several Lakers players asked to fill the void....He equaled the best rebounding average of his career with 8.8 per game, enhanced by a season-high 17 boards against the Timberwolves at Minnesota on 2/11....Also duplicated his heroics from the 1991 NBA Finals, netting a game-winning three-pointer with 2.3 seconds remaining against the Knicks in New York on 3/10....Not until his first full season with the Seattle SuperSonics would Perkins truly unleash his long-range shooting abilities, but he did hit 15 three-pointers in 1991-92.

1990-91:
The Los Angeles Lakers reunited Perkins with college teammate James Worthy when they signed Perkins as a free agent prior to the 1990-91 season....Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had retired in 1989, and the Lakers were looking for help up front, hoping Perkins and Worthy could recreate the magic that produced an NCAA Championship for North Carolina in 1982....Now in his seventh season, Perkins began the year as the Lakers' sixth man but moved into the starting lineup for good on 11/15....He appeared in 73 games, missing 7 with a fractured toe and 2 others with various injuries....Finished the year with averages of 13.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, shooting .495 from the field and .821 from the free-throw line....A contributor at both center and power forward, he ranked second on the team to Vlade Divac in both rebounds and blocked shots (78)....Scored a season-high 32 points against the Trail Blazers at Portland on 4/13 and grabbed 14 rebounds against the Washington Bullets on 12/9.....Was the Lakers' playoff leader in rebounding (8.3 rpg) as the club advanced to the NBA Finals for the fourth time in five seasons.....He provided a memorable moment when he hit a game-winning three-pointer against the Chicago Bulls in Game 1 of the 1991 NBA Finals, but it was the Lakers' only victory in the series; Chicago won the next four games to take the first of three consecutive NBA Championships.

1989-90:
Perkins's final season in Dallas was one of his best, although the Mavericks still struggled in vain to recapture their success of two years earlier....Finished with an average of 15.9 points per game on .493 shooting from the field, both marks ranking among the best of his career. He grabbed 7.5 rebounds per game in 76 appearances, third best on the team behind Roy Tarpley's 13.1 and James Donaldson's 8.6....The sixth-year forward was transcendent on April 12, pouring in a career-high 45 points-including 22 in the first quarter-to lead Dallas past the Golden State Warriors....The Mavericks finished at 47-35 and returned to the NBA Playoffs, but they were swept by the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round....After the season, Perkins left Dallas via free agency and signed with the Los Angeles Lakers....However, he had certainly made his mark in six seasons with Dallas....As of the 1993-94 season, he ranked fifth on the Mavericks' all-time scoring list, second in rebounds, and third in blocked shots.

1988-89:
One season after nearly reaching the NBA Finals, the Mavericks slumped to a 38-44 record as injuries and trades broke up the Dallas powerhouse....Mark Aguirre and Detlef Schrempf were traded in two separate deals in February, bringing in Adrian Dantley and Herb Williams....Roy Tarpley was suspended in January for violating the NBA's substance-abuse policy, and James Donaldson went down for the season in March after playing only 53 games.....The only constants on the 1988-89 version of the Mavericks were Rolando Blackman, Derek Harper, and Perkins.....Now in his fifth season, Perkins logged the most minutes of his career (36.7 per game) as he tried to help control the damage....Averaged 15.0 points and a career-high 8.8 rebounds (later tied), leading the team in total rebounds, with 688 and ranking fourth in total points with 1,171....His 92 blocked shots were second on the team to Williams's 134 and 2 shy of a career high.

1987-88:
Perkins turned in another solid season as the Mavericks' starting power forward....In 75 games he averaged 14.2 points and 8.0 rebounds, joining a formidable starting combination that included Derek Harper, Rolando Blackman, Mark Aguirre, and James Donaldson....Perkins ranked fourth on the team in scoring and third in rebounding behind Donaldson (9.3 rpg) and emerging sixth man Roy Tarpley (11.8)....Tarpley added 13.5 points per game to his rebounding numbers and earned the NBA Sixth Man Award in only his second season....With Perkins, Donaldson, Tarpley, and Detlef Schrempf, the Mavericks boasted a talented front line that nearly carried the team to the NBA Finals....After a 53-29 regular season, Dallas drove deep into the playoffs in 1988, meeting the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals....The Mavericks pushed the Lakers to the limit in the series before Los Angeles pulled out a 117-102 Game 7 victory....Perkins played in all 17 postseason games and averaged 13.5 points and 6.6 rebounds.

1986-87:
Perkins and James Donaldson manned the paint for a second straight season, although the Mavericks received increasingly strong contributions from rookie center Roy Tarpley and second-year forward Detlef Schrempf....Was a model of consistency in his third NBA season, averaging 14.8 points and 7.7 rebounds....Ranked second to Donaldson in rebounding and third behind Donaldson and Tarpley in blocked shots while recording a career-high 109 steals....Dallas continued to grow into a strong team, boasting the likes of Perkins, Donaldson, Schrempf, Tarpley, Rolando Blackman, Derek Harper, and Mark Aguirre....The Mavericks romped to a franchise-record 55 victories in the regular season, but they suffered a stunning first-round playoff upset at the hands of the Seattle SuperSonics, who had logged only a 39-43 record during the regular season.

1985-86:
Perkins moved to power forward in 1985-86 after Dallas acquired 7-foot-2 center James Donaldson early in the season....The move seemed to suit Perkins well, as he improved to 15.4 points per game on .503 shooting, his best field-goal percentage to date.....Also grabbed 8.6 rebounds per game and blocked a career-high 94 shots for the year....Turned in his finest effort of the season-and perhaps of his career-against the Rockets at Houston on 12/12.....Poured in 31 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in that game, marking the only 30-20 performance in franchise history. The second-year big man also had a season-high 32 points against the Golden State Warriors on 1/11....The Mavericks franchise had only been in existence for six seasons, but Dallas made its third straight playoff appearance in 1985-86, riding an impressive group of talented young players that would nearly reach the NBA Finals two years later....Starred in the clinching game of a first-round series against the Utah Jazz, contributing 29 points and 12 rebounds in the fourth and final game....The Mavericks then lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in a six-game conference semifinals series.

1984-85:
In Dallas, Perkins stepped right in, opening the season as the Mavericks' starting center in a lineup that included Mark Aguirre and Jay Vincent in the frontcourt and Brad Davis and Rolando Blackman at the guard spots....Playing in all 82 games, Perkins averaged 11.0 points and 7.4 rebounds en route to a berth on the NBA All-Rookie Team....The Mavericks advanced to the NBA Playoffs for a second straight year, meeting the Portland Trail Blazers in a first-round series....Dallas lost in four games, but Perkins sparkled with a career-best 18.8 postseason scoring average.

COLLEGE:
Long before the Dallas Mavericks snatched Sam Perkins with the fourth overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, he teamed up with fellow University of North Carolina stars James Worthy and Michael Jordan to capture the 1982 NCAA Championship....A sophomore that year, Perkins averaged 14.3 points and 7.8 rebounds-numbers he would bump to 17.6 and 9.6 in his final season....Named First-Team All-American in 1984 and the winner of the Lapchick Award honoring the country's outstanding senior....Still ranks as the Tar Heels' all-time rebounding leader with 1,167 boards....Second-Team All-American in 1982 and 1983....Summer of 1984 was on the gold medal-winning United States team at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.