Nick Smith, Jr., with NBA commissioner Adam Silver at NBA Draft — (Wendell Cruze / USA TODAY Sports)

When Hype Turned to Hope for Nick Smith in NBA Draft

Anthony Black jumped to No. 6 while highest-touted freshmen nearly fell out of first round

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Jun 23, 2023 11:10 AM EDT
Original:
Jun 23, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Anthony Black developed into a lottery pick and tied for the second-highest selection in Arkansas history in the NBA Draft. Nick Smith, Jr., made a career decision to leave after just a handful of games played and nearly ended up out of the first round Thursday night before getting a wave of relief after 9 p.m.

Nobody saw either one of those scenarios last summer with the highly-touted freshmen in a class most put at the very top of the 2022 freshmen. Smith suffered a knee injury in Europe and missed a lot of the regular season while Black continued the development he'd shown at the end of his high school career which continued under Eric Musselman and his staff this past season.

Black was picked No. 6 overall by the Orlando Magic. That ties Joe Kleine for the highest draft selection in school history. Sidney Moncrief, picked No. 5 by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1979, is the highest-drafted player ever. Smith was projected as a lottery pick last summer. Black was who most figured would be farther down the list. Despite carrying the moniker of being the No. 1 player in the 2022 recruiting class on some lists, Smith had to wait until the No. 27 pick to the Charlotte Hornets.

That wasn't the end of the evening for Musselman, who was in attendance, neatly attired in a black suit with a red tie and shirt. With forward Jordan Walsh getting picked late in the second round by the Sacramento Kings, the Hogs ended up with three players drafted. All were one-and-done freshmen, which is huge for the program. Ricky Council IV was signed to a free agent deal with the Philadelphia 76ers right after the draft (he was the second signing).

Now Musselman's shown he can develop guys straight out of high school to go into the league, which is what they all want a shot to do. He recruits to that. All of the drafted players have areas of their game they need to develop even more. It was a decision they had to make with their family and advisers. Only time will tell if it was the right choice.

Smith probably took the biggest gamble in this group and it didn't work out exactly the way he hoped. What caused that tumble isn't known (it's probably based on interviews and research by the teams). We also don't know much about that knee injury that was revealed in December that kept Smith off the floor until February other than Musselman said hit happened during the last game in Europe.

Black made a smart choice. He ended up getting picked in a spot where he'll get a three-year deal for about $19 million, according to a r eport at realgm.com. There are variables to that, but they are slight, and there's not a lot of negotiation. Smith will get a three-year deal around $6 million total.

In other words, Black will make more his first year than Smith will make over the entire three years combined. Remember, with salary caps and other stuff, the only way to make more than that over those three years is becoming a big name really fast. At a very fast pace.

His decision to stay in the NBA Draft a month ago turned out to be expensive. At least over the next three years. Only time will tell, and that will be based more on Smith's development than anything else.

Walsh has a second round spot and that salary structure isn't quite as clear. He will most likely receiver the league minimum, which will give him three years at around $3.4 million. With the cap, there's not a lot of the same games NFL teams play with their salary cap that NBA teams can get done. All of that is secondary, though.

Musselman got a big step in his program building with the Hogs. With three players picked in the draft and a fourth going with the second free agent signing, he's getting proof he can develop players after just one year to head into the NBA.