Former Knicks guard Dennis Smith Jr. finds home with Hornets
Charlotte Hornets guard Dennis Smith Jr. (8) watches the ball get away during the second half of the team's NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022, in Charlotte, N.C. Credit: AP/Rusty Jones
The Knicks have finally found a point guard with the arrival of Jalen Brunson, but it wasn’t long ago that there was some hope that Dennis Smith Jr. would be that player. Acquired in the deal that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas, the former lottery pick became locked to the bench and was shipped out to Detroit in the deal that brought Derrick Rose to New York two seasons ago.
Smith seemed headed to obscurity, never playing more than 37 games in a season since the 2018-19 season, he landed in Charlotte at the start of training camp this season. And with LaMelo Ball sidelined Smith has gotten a chance and delivered through the first three games of the season — arriving in Madison Square Garden with a renewed hope and at least for now, a starting job.
“It’s been different,” Smith said of his path. “Roller coaster, up and down. But I wouldn’t change it for nobody else’s though. I think it changed me in a lot of ways. It made me who I am, it made me grow. So I’m thankful for it.”
At just 24 years old, he is on his fifth team, and even he admitted that he heard the whispers that he might be on the way out.
“A little bit in the summer,” he said. “People were trying to write me off and you got guys way older than me with whatever their situation is and they’re getting this opportunity. But I don’t really think about it too much. I know I’m young. I know I got time and I got confidence in myself so I don’t really dwell on things like that.”
He switched agents in the summer and let him know that he would not play overseas — although he did consider trying to make the switch from the NBA to the NFL.
“I told my previous agent, I’m not going overseas,” Smith said. “If [this] don’t work out I’m just going to the NFL. And I was dead serious. I put on [a lot of] weight. I was gonna try. I done lost all of [the weight]. But I’m still a bull though.”
Despite struggling to find an opportunity during his time with the Knicks he had no hard feelings. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau praised him, too.
“I liked him a lot as a guy. Obviously, he's got talent and I think he's finding himself. He's playing really well right now, so I'm happy for him. He's a good kid. He did everything we asked. and he's gotten a good opportunity here and he's made the most of it.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
