Javonte Dedrick Smart (born June 3, 1999) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the

Birmingham Squadron The Birmingham Squadron are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Birmingham, Alabama, and are affiliated with the New Orleans Pelicans. The team plays their home games at Legacy Arena. The team began play in 201 ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

High school career

Smart attended

Scotlandville Magnet High School Scotlandville Magnet High School (SMHS) is a public high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. Scotlandville High is part of the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools. The school serves the Scotlandville neig ...

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties ...

and led the school to a state title as a freshman, earning MVP honors. As a sophomore, he averaged 22.4 points, 7.2 assists, and 6.9 rebounds per game. He participated in the Under Armour Elite 24 Showcase in August 2016. As a junior, Smart averaged 25.1 points, 8.7 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game. He was named Gatorade Louisiana Player of the Year for the second consecutive season and led Scotlandville to a state title in 2017. As a senior, Smart averaged 32.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game, sometimes playing the center position. He led the team to a state title and was again named Player of the Year. Smart was considered a five-star recruit and was ranked 21st in his class according to

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on college recruiting, athletic recruitment in college football and college basketball, basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount Global, Paramount. The website hosts a larg ...

. Smart committed to LSU over offers from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

College career

On February 23, 2019, Smart scored a career-high 29 points and hit two free throws with 0.6 seconds remaining in a 82–80 win against

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. Smart missed one game during his freshman season, the regular season finale against Vanderbilt on March 7, after a report surfaced alleging coach Will Wade paid him during his recruitment. He returned for the SEC and NCAA Tournaments after officials found no wrongdoing on Smart's part. As a freshman, Smart averaged 11.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. After the season, he declared for the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, i ...

but ultimately decided to return to LSU. As a sophomore, Smart averaged 12.5 points, 4.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. Following the season Smart declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

but maintained his eligibility. Smart announced on August 3 that he was withdrawing from the draft and returning to LSU. As a junior, Smart averaged 16 points, 3.7 rebounds, four assists and 1.3 steals per game, earning Second Team All- SEC honors. He declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA u ...

and hired an agent.

Professional career

Sioux Falls Skyforce (2021)

After going undrafted in the

2021 NBA Draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA u ...

, Smart joined the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

for the 2021 NBA Summer League and on September 10, he signed a contract with the Heat. He was waived prior to the start of the season and joined the

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team plays their home games in the Sanford Pentagon, a place they have call ...

as an affiliate player.

Milwaukee Bucks (2021–2022)

On November 30, 2021, Smart signed a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

with the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

. Under the terms of the deal, he split time between the Bucks and their

affiliate, the

Wisconsin Herd The Wisconsin Herd are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and are affiliated with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Herd play their home games at Oshkosh Arena. History On June 29, 2016, it was annou ...

. On January 13, 2022, he was waived by the Bucks.

Return to Sioux Falls (2022)

On January 16, 2022, the Sioux Falls Skyforce reacquired Smart.

Miami Heat (2022)

On February 15, 2022, Smart signed a two-way contract with the

. The same day, he scored 40 points in a win against the

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won fo ...

. On July 16, Smart was waived by the Heat.

Birmingham Squadron (2022–present)

On November 4, 2022, Smart was named to the opening night roster for the

National team career

Smart has represented the United States in

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

play on two occasions. In 2015, he was a member of the gold medal-winning US team in the 2015 FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship and averaged 6.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.9 steals per game. Smart then won a gold medal at the

2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship The 2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship (Spanish: 2016 FIBA Campeonato Mundial Sub-17) was the 4th edition of the FIBA Under-17 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship contested by the U17 national team ...

in Zaragoza, Spain. In the U17 tournament, Smart averaged 5.4 points, 3.4 assists and 3 rebounds per game.

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

, 13 , , 1 , , 12.3 , , .256 , , .222 , , .833 , , 1.5 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , .2 , , 2.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, 4 , , 0 , , 10.0 , , .471 , , .444 , , — , , 1.3 , , .5 , , .5 , , .3 , , 5.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 17 , , 1 , , 11.8 , , .317 , , .296 , , .833 , , 1.4 , , .9 , , .4 , , .2 , , 3.0

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, 34 , , 18 , , 29.9 , , .368 , , .311 , , .839 , , 3.3 , , 2.4 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , 11.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 30 , , 34.2 , , .415 , , .326 , , .814 , , 3.5 , , 4.2 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 12.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 28 , , 35.6 , , .460 , , .402 , , .857 , , 3.7 , , 4.0 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , 16.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 93 , , 76 , , 33.1 , , .414 , , .351 , , .836 , , 3.5 , , 3.5 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 13.0

Personal life

Smart is the son of Melinda Smart and Jerry Matthews. He has an older sister, Desiree, and a younger brother, Davyion. His cousin,

Keith Smart Jonathan Keith Smart (born September 21, 1964) is an American collegiate basketball coach and former player. Playing career He is perhaps best remembered for hitting the game-winning shot in the 1987 NCAA championship game that gave the Indian ...

has played and coached in the NBA.

References

External links

LSU Tigers bioUSA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, Javonte 1999 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Baton Rouge, Louisiana LSU Tigers men's basketball players Miami Heat players Milwaukee Bucks players Point guards Sioux Falls Skyforce players Undrafted National Basketball Association players