Braden Smith Among 10 Semifinalists for 2025 National Player of the Year Award
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INDIANAPOLIS — Purdue junior guard Braden Smith is among 10 semifinalists for the 2025 Naismith National Player of the Year award. The list was announced on Friday.
Smith is averaging 16.2 points, 8.8 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game this season. He has guided Purdue to a 22-10 record and a 13-7 mark in Big Ten play. The junior has also achieved three major career milestones this year — hitting 1,000 career points, 500 rebounds and become Purdue's all-time leader in assists.
Earlier this week, Smith was named the winner of the 2025 Big Ten Player of the Year award. It marked the third straight year in which a player from Purdue claimed the honor, as Zach Edey was presented with the award in 2023 and 2024.
Edey was also a two-time Naismith National Player of the Year.
Here's the complete list of semifinalists for the 2025 Naismith National Player of the Year in college basketball:
- Johni Broome, Auburn
- Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
- Cooper Flagg, Duke
- Kam Jones, Marquette
- Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
- RJ Luis Jr., St. John's
- Mark Sears, Alabama
- Braden Smith, Purdue
- John Tonje, Wisconsin
- JT Toppin, Texas Tech
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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