Braden Smith is something of a throwback at the collegiate level. In the era of NIL, he played his entire four-year career at Purdue, setting the Division I all-time ***** ists record. He did it all despite being listed at 5-foot-10. Then the basketball gods smiled on him: his hometown Indiana Pacers traded into the second round and took him with the 38th pick.
Through a partnership with AT&T, Smith documented his reaction to being drafted by the Pacers in the company of the people who mattered to him. He spoke with HoopsHype about a range of topics, including the grueling draft process he went through, playing with Zach Edey, preparing to play for Rick Carlisle, finding success while undersized, and more.
Braden Smith: It was awesome. Obviously, just being able to be 30 minutes from downtown Indiana and being able to be close to home, be close to family, be close to friends, be close to really everything... It’s awesome. And I’ve grown up here. I’ve been in two great communities: my high school years in Westfield and Purdue during my college years.
So just to combine the two and make it all one and make it Indy for however long I’m here. Hopefully it’s my whole career, but obviously things happen, but to be home and to be in Indy is a great deal.
BS: I think it’s a mixture of both. Obviously, like you have confidence if you’re a basketball player trying to make it at a very high level, or else you wouldn’t make it in that world. So obviously to some aspect, you have some sort of level of confidence. I had that, and I always knew that it would happen because I put a lot of time in and worked really hard in doing so.
Through a partnership with AT&T, Smith documented his reaction to being drafted by the Pacers in the company of the people who mattered to him. He spoke with HoopsHype about a range of topics, including the grueling draft process he went through, playing with Zach Edey, preparing to play for Rick Carlisle, finding success while undersized, and more.
Braden Smith: It was awesome. Obviously, just being able to be 30 minutes from downtown Indiana and being able to be close to home, be close to family, be close to friends, be close to really everything... It’s awesome. And I’ve grown up here. I’ve been in two great communities: my high school years in Westfield and Purdue during my college years.
So just to combine the two and make it all one and make it Indy for however long I’m here. Hopefully it’s my whole career, but obviously things happen, but to be home and to be in Indy is a great deal.
BS: I think it’s a mixture of both. Obviously, like you have confidence if you’re a basketball player trying to make it at a very high level, or else you wouldn’t make it in that world. So obviously to some aspect, you have some sort of level of confidence. I had that, and I always knew that it would happen because I put a lot of time in and worked really hard in doing so.
2 months ago
