Reporter Claims He Was Threatened by Sampson

Sacramento Kings’ center Ralph Sampson threatened to beat up a newspaper reporter, apparently over a column that called the former All-Star one of basketball’s “great disappointments.”

Sampson interrupted an interview Sacramento Bee reporter R.E. Graswich was holding with Kings’ player personnel director Jerry Reynolds before Tuesday’s 114-105 loss to the Clippers.

“If you ever write something about me without talking to me again, I’ll punch you in the nose,” the Bee quoted Sampson as saying. “I’ll be waiting for you outside. I’ll bust you up. I’m not kidding. I’ll get you. I’ll bust you up.”

The Bee said Graswich has tried several times to speak with Sampson about his medical condition, and the 29-year-old center has declined to discuss the issue.

“I can’t really comment because I don’t know what happened,” said Rick Benner, team president. “If Ralph said those things, we can’t have it. He’s not going to be busting anybody up.”

Said Reynolds: “It was all talk.”

Sampson, in his seventh year in the NBA, has missed 21 games this season and suffers from arthritis in his knees. In a column published Tuesday before the incident, Graswich wrote: “ . . . Sampson is one of the game’s great disappointments. It’s sad to watch him now.”

Sampson, Houston’s No. 1 pick in the 1983 draft, was traded to Golden State in 1987 and to the Kings last season.