Analyzing Braden Smith's summer league play for Indiana

There was a little more intrigue to this year's summer league for a lot of Pacers fans. All eyes were on the hometown kid, Braden Smith, as fans wanted to see if the Purdue grad's game would translate to the pro-level in Las Vegas. Overall, it was a bit of a mixed bag for the point guard, but there were certainly some things to like along the way.

Pacers GM Chad Buchanan recently said Smith isn't just here because he played at Purdue. He said Smith "impacts winning and the entire team believes in his game." So how did his game look over these five summer league contests?

Outside of one game, the scoring was down, but the assist totals remained high.

"I feel like my job is to get everybody the ball in positions to be successful," Smith said last week. The 2nd round pick averaged seven assists per game while playing around 23 minutes per night, which was good enough for the fourth-most assists across the league in summer league play.

Here were his totals in the five summer league games:

5 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 4 turnovers, 1-for-8.
16 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 3-for-6.
0 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 0-for-7.
8 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 0 steals, 4 turnovers, 3-for-6.
5 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2-for-7.

Overall, that comes out to totals of 6.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 1.6 steals, and 2.8 turnovers on just 26% from the field.

Braden Smith with the tough fadeaway 😮‍💨

The #38 pick and the @Pacers battling the Timberwolves in NBA Summer League action on Prime! pic.twitter.com/AbhYbofknZ
— NBA (@NBA) July 15, 2026

Since the comparison will undoubtedly be made, TJ McConnell averaged 14.6 and 7.4 assists in his first summer league action before his rookie season 11 years ago. Every situation is different, however, and we've also seen plenty of strong NBA careers out of players who struggled to find their shot in summer ball.

After watching Smith closely over these five games, my opinion hasn't changed all that much on his potential outlook. He will have a learning curve at this level and will probably experience some struggles along the way.

There's a good chance he'll play several games with the Noblesville Boom this coming season, with the opportunity of earning some minutes for the Pacers when there are injuries. That's a fine outlook for a second round pick.

You would have liked to see some better shooting numbers in these games, and there were times when Smith looked a little over-matched.

Other times, however, Smith looked like the floor general we've seen from the past four years. His assist numbers could have also been a lot higher, but his teammates missed a lot of good looks that he set up for them. Finishing fourth in assists across the league is very solid.

Summer league is also a roller coaster at times with players trying to show all 30 teams what they've got. Smith had too many turnovers for his own liking, but more than a few of those were a result of the environment. Officials missed a blatant kicked ball violation on Saturday, resulting in a turnover for Smith. Against Minnesota, Smith was shoved to the ground on one of his turnovers with no whistle to be heard.

For the record, I'm not a Braden Smith apologist by any means. I've actually been an IU guy my entire life and have covered the Hoosiers for years. I simply have a lot of trust in the Pacers front office, and I can at least see the vision for a potential role for the former Boilermaker, even if it's more down the line. Smith knows the game, sees the floor at an elite level, and has always embraced the underdog role. When you think about it, that's a good description of a Pacer.

If you were concerned about Smith's game coming into the summer, his overall play probably didn't change your mind. If you're a believer in his ability, his overall play probably didn't change your mind much either.

Smith is going to have one of the best coaching staffs, some of the best point guard mentors you could ever have, and some of the best teammates around. Let's see what he can do outside of the summer spotlight.

Add us as a preferred source on Google