Braden Smith has Made a Decision about His Future

The Indiana Pacers have yet to sign Braden Smith to a contract yet and speculation on whether he would return for a fifth year of college basketball has started to rise.

On Friday, Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court of Colorado granted a class-wide preliminary injunction. According to Cameron Salerno of CBS Sports, this means that athletes who exhausted four seasons of eligibility this spring -- and believed that their college career had ended --would now be eligible for the upcoming season.

The class certification read, "All persons in the United States who began to play in collegiate sports in the 2022-2023 season, competed in NCAA Division I sports, and completed four years of eligibility as defined by the NCAA's prior rules by the conclusion of the 2025-2026 season, and are therefore barred from playing a fifth season due to the NCAA's adoption and immediate implementation of the Five-Year Eligibility Rule."

While this ruling by Judge Sweeney would allow for Braden Smith to return to the NCAA for a fifth year, he will not be considering a return to college basketball. This information was provided by his representatives at Priority Sports, and in article written by Isaac Trotter of CBS Sports.

Pacers General Manager Chad Buchanan joined the Setting the Pace podcast in late July and shared that the team is heavily weighing their options before finalizing the last few spots on their roster. Early reports were that Smith would be signed to a two-way contract, but the team has yet to put ink to paper. The reason why? Indiana values the three players they currently have under contract on two-way deals in Ethan Thompson, Jalen Slawson and Kobe Brown.

Teams are only permitted to carry three players on two-way contracts on their roster, so they would have to part ways with one of the three in order to sign Smith to a two-way deal. Indiana currently has the cap space to sign a player with 0-1 years of NBA experience to a minimum contract and Smith is the only player who falls within those parameters.

There has been no indication on how Indiana will elect to handle Smith's contract moving forward, but the front office seems excited to have him as a part of the organization and they want to develop him into a potential depth piece point guard.

Chad Buchanan has had glowing comments about Smith since they acquired him on the second night of the NBA Draft in a draft-day-trade with the Chicago Bulls for guard Kameron Jones, and two second-round pick swaps.

Buchanan told reporters the day after the draft that he saw a lot of Andrew Nembhard in his game:

“As we watched him there (at the pre-draft camp) for a couple games, when the ball's in his hands, your team usually gets a good shot,” Buchanan continued, “When we watched Andrew Nembhard at the (NBA Draft) Combine, a lot of the same things were happening when Andrew had the ball as what we saw with Braden with the ball. His team was organized. He got a good look for everybody, for every guy around him. He makes the game easier for other players.”

While his Summer League showing might have left fans wanting more, the front ofice walked away pleased with his overall play and encouraged Smith to keep his head up and keep pushing forward.

Whenever the dusts settles on Smith's contract situation, expect him to spend a majority of the season getting as many reps as he can with the Noblesville Boom the Pacers G-League affiliate.

You can follow me on X @AlexGoldenNBA and listen to my daily podcast, Setting The Pace, wherever you get your podcasts.

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