Former Charlotte Hornets' First Round Pick Headed to Europe

The Charlotte Hornets have been infamous for making, let's say, questionable draft decisions in the early 2020s. One of those was undoubtedly selecting Nick Smith Jr. with the 27th pick in the 2023 NBA draft.

Just about three years have passed since. The former Razorback has had his shot at NBA minutes with the Hornets, but also more recently with the Los Angeles Lakers. He couldn't convince either franchise to keep him around for the time being.

Now, the still only 22-year-old guard is making a move overseas in an effort to gain back some momentum. He joins Spanish team Real Madrid, where multiple ex-NBA players are under contract, amongst them former Hornets guard Théo Maledon.

Could NSJ make an NBA return anytime soon?

Depends on how you define "soon". Soon as in next season, most definitely not. Soon as in three years, when he would be twenty-five... Definitely!

As bad as the pick looks in hindsight, let's first remember why the Hornets were intrigued by Smith Jr. in the first place. He had received high praise coming out of high school and was widely regarded as the number one prospect entering college in 2022.

Before his season with Arkansas could even get underway, a knee injury began troubling him. When it was all said and done, NSJ was limited to just 17 appearances in the 2022-23 season.

Arkansas Razorbacks guard Nick Smith Jr. (3) passes the ball against the UConn Huskies during the first half at T-Mobile Aren — USA TODAY Sports

Many of them came so far apart from one another that it was almost impossible for him to build any kind of rhythm. That was reflected in the terrible efficiency numbers; 37.6% from the field speaks volumes.

Nick Smith Jr.'s shot chart with Arkansas in 2022-23 | Hoop-explorer.com

From the Hornets' perspective, though, they were presented with someone at the end of the first round who clearly had a lot of offensive upside but was completely robbed of the opportunity to show it because of the circumstances during his one year in college.

Of course, we know by now that Smith Jr.'s efficiency would not go up significantly at the NBA level. He would find success scoring the ball in the G League, but on the main rosters he featured on, he seemed to be unable to deal with NBA-level physicality.

The jump shot, especially from three-point range, is undeniably smooth and also goes in at a fairly good rate. That alone is just simply not enough to stick around in the NBA nowadays, when everything else on the court is a deficiency.

For this exact reason, it should do Nick Smith Jr. well to play in Europe for now. Real Madrid head coach Pedro Martinez had this to say about the development and role of NSJ in his system:

He will be very young, without experience outside his country or knowledge of how basketball is played and how teams practice in Europe. We have to help him understand that things here will probably be different from what he has experienced during his short professional career.
Pedro Martinez, per Eurohoops.net

More specifically, Martinez added:

We should not expect one player to score 35 points every night and leave everyone speechless. We want a balanced and unpredictable team that does not depend on one or two players. [...] What we expect from the new player, as well as everyone else, is to contribute, help and make sacrifices for the good of the team.
Pedro Martinez, per Eurohoops.net

A lot of the time when Nick Smith Jr. was out there on the court with the Hornets, he flat-out did not seem ready to play. Both because of his lack of strength and because of his struggles to play a role within a winning team.

And there are good reasons for that, with Smith Jr. not being at fault for many of those. He had gargantuan expectations very early on, only one injury-plagued college year, and then was exposed to an NBA franchise in flux that had some issues of its own to figure out.

So it feels good to see him now get an opportunity with one of the best basketball clubs in Europe. Where no one needs him to be awe-inspiring, he can hopefully stay healthy, and the emphasis can be on playing winning basketball alongside experienced players.

To hear more thoughts on Nick Smith Jr. and other 2020s Hornets draft picks, feel free to check out the corresponding tier list episodes on the Charlotte Hornets on SI YouTube (HERE) or Spotify (HERE) podcast channels.

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