JaKarr Sampson

JaKarr Jordan Sampson was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1993. He is the son of Dawnette Epps and Darrel Sampson. He has two brothers (DJ and Justin). He started his high school ball for three seasons at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio from 2007 to 2010. Sampson then attended Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire for two years, where he was teammates with fellow NBA veteran T.J. Warren. After the 2010-11 campaign, Sampson was named to the All-NEPSAC first team. Following the 2011-12 season, Sampson was named the NEPSAC AAA Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player of the National Prep Championship. JaKarr Sampson spent two years (2012-2014) at St. John's University, playing in a combined 66 career games for the Red Storm, starting all but two games. As a freshman at St. John's, Sampson immediately became a major contributor. He scored 14.9 points per game to go with averages of 6.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per contest. In recognition of his efforts, Sampson was named the Big East Rookie of the year. He remained a serviceable player a season later, accounting for 12.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore. His 32 blocks were good for seventh in the Big East. By the time Sampson left St. John's and declared for the NBA Draft in 2014, he'd compiled 420 career rebounds to go along with 915 points for the Red Storm.