Chicago Bulls: Impact recent JaKarr Sampson signing brings

Yet another G-League player got the call for the Chicago Bulls for the rest of the season, this time with small forward JaKarr Sampson.

At this point of the regular season, the Chicago Bulls don’t have much to play for outside of a better spot in the upcoming NBA Draft lottery. Positioning for better chances to get a good slot among the lottery picks isn’t conducive to productive play on the court the rest of the way, though. The Chicago Bulls likely have the same focus at the moment as the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

An interesting move that the Chicago Bulls did make with just a handful of games remaining for the month of April was calling up and signing JaKarr Sampson. Ironically enough, Sampson will live on in the minds of Bulls fans for quite a while from when he was posterized by shooting guard Zach LaVine last season when he was a member of the Sacramento Kings.

But this season, Sampson spent most of the year as a member of the G-League affiliate Windy City Bulls. He did make some headway in terms of proving his value as a potential NBA rotational player for next season.

This will be the juiciest opportunity that Sampson will get this year to prove his NBA worth with what could be a good amount of playing time in the remaining contests for the Chicago Bulls. This will also be the first taste of NBA action for Sampson in a while.

The report that Sampson was getting the call from the Windy City Bulls up to the Chicago Bulls came thanks to a team press release on March 31. Sampson is getting a 10-day contract to finish out the remainder of the regular season in the NBA, similar to that of recently called former Bradley guard Walt Lemon Jr. 

This call-up could be more significant that Lemon Jr.’s due to the fact that the Bulls need so much help in the frontcourt. The last two games saw the Bulls run with three or four guards on the floor most of the way, including in the starting fives.

However, the Bulls now at least have another sizable 6-foot-9 forward in the mix with the call-up for Sampson. What Sampson brings with him in 169 career games played over the course of four years in the NBA is an average of 5.1 points per game and 2.6 rebounds to go along with a player efficiency rating slightly above 8.

Here is the shot Sampson had to be waiting for and working toward during his time in the G-League. He needs to make the most of it. His first shot at making an impact with the Bulls in a big way comes on April 1 against the drowning Knicks.