If the Philadelphia 76ers are going to reach their potential this season, they’ll need a contribution from Zhaire Smith, the No. 16 pick of the 2018 Draft who played in just eight games last season.
With his introduction to the Sixers’ rotation, here are 10 things to know about the 6-foot-4 guard from Texas Tech.
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Hoop genes: Smith was born on June 4, 1999, in Garland, Texas (outside of Dallas). His father, Billy Ray Smith, played at Kansas State in the late 1980s for Lon Kruger (currently the coach at the University of Oklahoma). Zhaire’s younger sister is also an athlete.
From unknown to hot prospect: Smith wasn’t a highly ranked recruit coming out of Lakeview Centennial High School. He went to Texas Tech, expecting to be there long-term. But by the end of his freshman season (in which he averaged 11.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists), he was projected to be a first-round pick. “Nobody, myself included,” Smith told CBS Sports before the 2018 Draft, “expected me to be one-and-done.”
March Madness: Smith and the Red Raiders won three games in the 2018 NCAA Tournament before losing to Villanova with a trip to the Final Four on the line. At the time, it was the deepest tournament run in school history. (Texas Tech advanced to the championship game in 2019).
Super athlete: Smith was a guard more known for his rebounding and shot-blocking than for his shooting (he attempted only 40 3-pointers in 37 games) or playmaking. In the first round of the tournament, he had one of the more ridiculous dunks in recent memory, a 360-degree finish off a fast-break, alley-oop feed.
Draft night deal: With the 10th pick in the 2018 Draft, the Sixers selected Mikal Bridges, whose mother worked for the franchise and who was on the Villanova team that beat Texas Tech in the tournament. But the Sixers traded the local favorite to Phoenix for the 16th pick and Miami’s 2021 first-round pick. They then took the 18-year-old Smith with No. 16. “I anointed him ‘1B,'” Sixers head coach (and acting general manager) Brett Brown said at the time. “It’s really an incredible situation that we had to navigate through once we got that offer.”
Initial setback: At Tim Grgurich’s development camp in Las Vegas in early August of 2018, Smith suffered a Jones fracture in his left foot. It was the same injury that the Sixers’ Ben Simmons had suffered (in his right foot) two years earlier. After surgery, his initial timetable had him coming back in December.
Rookie love: Despite the injury, Smith was named “most athletic” by his classmates in the annual NBA.com Rookie Survey, receiving 24 percent of the votes on that question. At the Draft Combine a few months earlier, Smith had the second-fasted three-quarter-court sprint (3.05 seconds) and tied for the third highest max vertical leap (41.5 inches).
A major scare: But a month later, Smith suffered an allergic reaction to some chicken that caused a tear in his esophagus and put him in the hospital for six weeks. He was unable to eat solid foods even longer than that, and he lost more than 30 pounds. His first work on the basketball court came in a bathrobe, with tubes coming out of his body, at 4:30 a.m., and with his mom rebounding.
A taste of the league: More than five months after his allergic reaction, Smith saw his first game action, suiting up for the Delaware Blue Coats on March 1, 2019. After 11 G League appearances, he made his NBA debut on March 25. He played in six of the Sixers’ final nine games of the regular season, scoring a career-high 17 points in the season finale against Chicago. But he wasn’t in the Sixers’ playoff rotation, playing less than six postseason minutes.
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Anti-social media: Smith has a reputation for having a strong work ethic. “His perseverance and love of basketball is completely evident,” Brown said at the end of last season. “The kid lives in a gym.” And Smith doesn’t let his phone disturb his focus on basketball. He has just six posts on his Instagram account and he posted just one original tweet for all of 2019.