How Nick Smith Jr. Fits with the OKC Thunder

With the Oklahoma City Thunder out of the NBA Finals running, it’s officially time to time to switch gears to prospect evaluation mode.

And this year’s impending NBA Draft has plenty of players that can help bolster the OKC core.

No matter how unlikely it is Oklahoma City lands certain prospects, the Thunder Fit series will take a look at how they would fit with the current team’s configuration. And with a war chest of assets, you never know how far the front office could move up to acquire a player.

The next prospect up in the series is Arkansas guard Nick Smith Jr., who had a shaky collegiate year with the Razorbacks, but should be in the team's draft range come draft night 2023.

Here’s how Smith could fit alongside the rest of the Thunder core:

Offense

At 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-8 wingspan, Smith Jr. was heralded as potentially the top collegiate prospect coming into the season, largely due to his length and scoring upside as a fluid combo guard.

But in the end, he averaged just 12.5 points on 37 percent shooting due to various injuries and inconsistency’s. Still, his upside on the offensive end is visible. He’s smooth, has a strong shooting motion and likely the best floater in the class.

But his fit with OKC is a tricky one. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams’ tendencies, there’s a bit of a logjam at the guard position.

Smith projects to be a solid off-ball player, something massively important to his fit with the Thunder. In the least, he’ll likely be a shooter and spot-up threat, despite that not being the best use of his talents. But he’s going to need legitimate on-ball minutes to tap into his upside.

In the short term, he'd likely be used as an off-ball weapon alongside OKC's established talent and one of the primary handlers for the bench unit.

Defense

Defensively, Smith has a ways to go before he’ll make any sort of impact, especially in the heavily skilled NBA.

His positional length is great, but he doesn’t have the same built-in motor or defensive instincts that some prospects do, namely Anthony Black or Cason Wallace, his guard counterparts in the lottery.

It’s clear Smith cares deeply about winning and has a competitive fire, two things that typically go hand-in-hand with effort on the defensive end. But he’s far from a finished defensive product.

Overall, there’s just lots of questions marks not only surrounding Smith’s game overall, but especially his fit in Oklahoma City.

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