Ralph Sampson was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame Friday night. He spent time with both the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings during his NBA career.
Sampson played nine seasons in the NBA, but is also considered to be one of the greatest college basketball players of all-time. During his collegiate career at the University of Virginia, Sampson won three Naismith Awards, two Wooden Awards and helped lead Virginia to a Final Four.
During his induction speech, Sampson talked about what it meant to be inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame and what the game of basketball means to him in general.
"Words can't describe how I feel about being among the greats who have ever played this game," Sampson said. "We, as older guys, need to help the younger guys highly appreciate this game."
Sampson said he didn't love basketball growing up, instead loving baseball, but he valued basketball. He told a story of reaching the scoring limit during the first quarter of youth games growing up. Sampson says he now values the game as high as he possibly can.
Sampson won the NBA Rookie of the Year award in 1984 and averaged 15.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game during his career. He played close to a season and a half with the Warriors and played two seasons with the Kings.
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