Ralph Sampson III has been working out with Tim Grover at Attack Athletics while preparing for the 2011 NBA Draft, as reported earlier, but the Minnesota Golden Gophers center has an even bigger workout scheduled for Sunday, May 8, in New Jersey.
Sampson will be headed to New Jersey because the Nets, along with the Houston Rockets and New York Knicks, are hosting a draft combine this weekend where 43 other NBA draft-eligible players will showcase their skills in front of coaches and personnel executives from 26 NBA teams, according to a press release from the team.
The workout, which will also feature five-on-five competition as well as the usual combine measurements and skill tests, didn’t originally feature Sampson III. However, with some of the more high-profile players electing to pull out due to varying circumstances, the junior big man will get a chance to prove that he belongs with the rest of this year’s NBA Draft class.
May 8 could be the most important day in Sampson III’s basketball to date as just hours after this workout, he’ll have to decide if he’s going to return to Minnesota or stay in the Draft.