SKYFORCE ACQUIRES EARL CLARK, SAM THOMPSON

Sioux Falls, SD – The Sioux Falls Skyforce announced today that the team has acquired forwards Earl Clark and Sam Thompson from the available player pool. The transactions fill the open roster spots from Brandon Knight and Micah Potter’s NBA Call-Up’s.

Clark, a 6-10, 234-pound forward out of Louisville was the 14^th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft to the Phoenix Suns.

The six-year NBA veteran averaged 4.4 points on 40.3 percent shooting, 2.9 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 0.5 blocks in 261 total games (54 starts). Clark most recently played in 10 games for the Brooklyn Nets in 2014-15, as he averaged 2.7 points on 36.7 percent shooting, 2.3 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 0.4 blocks in 9.3 minutes per game.

Clark has spent parts of the last seven seasons playing overseas, with Ulsan Mobis Phoebus of the South Korean Basketball League being the most recent in 2021-22, as he averaged 12.1 points on 48.5 percent shooting, 7.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.4 blocks in 23 games (14 starts).

He spent three seasons at Louisville, before declaring for the draft, and averaged 10.6 points on 46.7 percent shooting, 7.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 104 games (63 starts). Clark led the Cardinals to the Elite Eight of the 2009 NCAA Tournament as a junior, as he averaged 15.5 points in the tournament and scored 13-plus points in 10 of his last 13 collegiate games.

Thompson, a 6-7, 200-pound forward out of Ohio State University went undrafted in the 2015 NBA Draft.

He recently has played with JB Monferrato in Italy, averaging 14.4 points on 42.2 percent shooting, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 30 appearances (30 starts) for the team.

Prior to his time with JB Monferrato, Thompson spent a season a combination of three seasons in the G League and was the seventh overall pick in the 2015 NBA G League Draft by the Grand Rapids Drive. He was traded to Delaware during the season, and between the two teams, he averaged 7.8 points on 45.9 percent shooting, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 43 games (25 starts) as a rookie. He spent the 2016-17 season with Vasas Akademia Budapest the Hungarian NBIA league, averaging 14.8 points on 45.1 percent shooting, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 28 games (24 starts). Thompson returned to the G League, signing with the Greensboro Swarm for the 2017-19 seasons.

Thompson played four years at Ohio State, averaging 6.9 points on 47.2 percent shooting, 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 146 games (83 starts).

Both players are expected to be available for the team’s upcoming home game, which kicks off the 2021-22 regular season, on January 6 against the Iowa Wolves. Tip-off is slated for 6:30 PM CST from the Sanford Pentagon.