Sixers Trade Zhaire Smith to Pistons for Tony Bradley
The Philadelphia 76ers are trading third-year guard Zhaire Smith to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday, a source confirms to Sports Illustrated. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski was first on the report.
Smith, a 21-year-old former first-round pick, will get a fresh start in Detroit after hardly seeing the court for the Sixers over the last two seasons. The former Texas Tech standout was drafted 16th overall in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns.
On the same night, the Sixers traded their first-round selection, Mikal Bridges, for Smith and a future draft pick. Although Smith showed promise in his summer league matchups as a rookie, the young guard had a serious setback as he dealt with a foot injury before the 2018-2019 season started.
For a while, it was believed Smith would miss the entire season due to his foot injury. However, the Sixers made Smith available to their G League affiliates, the Delaware Blue Coats, in March of 2019.
Shortly after, he finally debuted for the Sixers. After appearing in just six games during his debut season, Smith showed promise as he averaged 6.7 points-per-game off the bench while shooting 37-percent from three.
Smith was gearing up for redemption ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, but the young guard struggled to earn minutes outside of the G League. Also, he dealt with several other injuries as well. In 2019-2020, Smith managed only to see the court in seven games. He averaged 1.1 points-per-game during that time.
As the Sixers load up on experienced guards, Smith was bound to be buried on the team's depth chart once again. Therefore, he will get a fresh start in Detroit while the Sixers will receive the 22-year-old former first-round center, Tony Bradley.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_
