Purdue's Braden Smith, Omer Mayer Earn Invitation to Elite Guard Camp
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Purdue guards Braden Smith and Omer Mayer are getting the chance to hone their basketball skills with one of the NBA's all-time greats. Both were among 12 student-athletes invited to the 2025 Chris Paul Elite Guard Camp, scheduled for July 29-Aug. 1 in Las Vegas.
The Chris Paul Elite Guard Camp provides some of college basketball's top guards with the opportunity to get high-level training from a 20-year NBA veteran and 12-time All-Star. It also prepares them for some of the challenges they may face when heading to the professional level.
Purdue's social media team revealed the news on Monday.
🤩 Elite guards.
— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) July 28, 2025
Braden Smith 🤝 Omer Mayer pic.twitter.com/QJvTl7e5cP
Smith is coming off a 2024-25 campaign in which he averaged 15.8 points, 8.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game for the Boilermakers. He was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and won the Bob Cousy Award, presented to the top point guard in the country.
Entering the 2025-26 season, Smith is a favorite to win the National Player of the Year award.
Mayer will be entering his first year at Purdue this season, coming to West Lafayette via Israel. He's a four-star prospect and a top-50 player in the 2025 recruiting class. Over the summer, Mayer participated in two FIBA events with Israel.
In the FIBA U19 World Cup, the 6-foot-4 averaged 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.0 steals per game in four games. Israel finished that event with a 4-2 record, with Mayer missing two games due to injury.
Then, Mayer participated in FIBA U20 EuroBasket. He played in all seven games, averaging 16.7 points (sixth in EuroBasket) and 5.1 assists (fifth in EuroBasket) per game.
Both Smith and Mayer are expected to have key roles for the Boilers this coming season.
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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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