Purdue Coach Matt Painter Responds to Question Regarding Braden Smith's Status

Braden Smith's stellar career at Purdue through three seasons has prompted some to ask one question as we enter college basketball's offseason: Will he return? The junior guard still has one year of eligibility to utilize, but a player of his caliber could test the NBA Draft waters or potentially enter his name into the NCAA transfer portal.

Smith has not made any announcement regarding his future yet, but he's only had one week to weigh his options since Purdue's 62-60 loss to Houston in the Sweet 16.

This week, Purdue coach Matt Painter joined Field of 68 for an interview ahead of this weekend's Final Four in San Antonio. The longtime leader of the Boilermakers was asked about Smith's status and if he could provide any update on the situation.

"Yeah, you guys live in that crazy world where you see it," Painter said. "But we live in that world, too. It's like anything that you go through when it's the same for everybody, and I think you see that now and how everything has been set up — everybody is out there. Just think if the NBA had free agency and there are only one-year contracts. Like, how crazy would that world be? So, we've got to get some guardrails that are a little bit better than what we have right now.

"But, Braden Smith has been fabulous, man. He's a big-time passer, he's really grown each year. The fact that — two years ago Zach Edey had the most field goals in the country, this year, Trey Kaufman-Renn had the most field goals in the country — for Braden to have more assists this year after losing Zach Edey is just an unbelievable accomplishment. But he's done more than that ... He's stepped up for us and he's deserving of being a first-team All-American."

You can see the full interview with Painter below.

I'm not going to dive into any speculation or rumors, but instead follow simply what Painter said regarding Smith's status. He didn't specifically say Smith was returning, but he didn't say the junior guard would depart, either.

Remember, there are still a lot of new things to navigate regarding this era of college basketball.

Smith was a first-team All-American selection and was named the Big Ten Player of the Year for the 2024-25 season. He finished the year averaging 15.8 points, 8.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. He eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career and also became Purdue's all-time leading assist man.

Without question, Smith has been a huge piece to Purdue's success over the last three seasons.

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