Jalen Smith is going down one level for more seasoning.
The Phoenix Suns sent the former Maryland basketball star to the G League on Monday, the team announced. Smith, 20, slowed down by an ankle injury and a fight against COVID-19, played in eight games and totaled 50 minutes this season. With several players coming back from injuries and the team having their best start in 12 years at 17-9, the minutes would be scarce, so he will play heavy minutes at the G League Bubble in Orlando in an effort to gain experience.
Smith, chosen tenth overall in this year’s Draft, is in the first year of a four-year rookie contract that will earn him nearly $ 19.5 million. He will play for the Los Angeles Clippers affiliate club, Agua Caliente Clippers. Like other newbies, its progression has also been slowed by the lack of a summer league due to COVID-19.
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“He’s a hard worker,” said Suns coach Monty Williams on Sunday. “I don’t think any young player understands how hard it takes to be a good player in this league. He embraced that part, which makes us very satisfied. He doesn’t waste days to work. “
Smith will have a lot of action in the G League bubble. His team plays eight games between 16 and 27 February. They’re also scheduled to play against the Memphis Hustle, with Smith’s former teammate in Maryland, Anthony Cowan, on March 1st. In three games, Cowan averages 5.3 points in 66.7 percent of shots – 60 percent in the 3-point range – in 11.4 minutes per game.
“If he can learn a little from the vernacular, the nuances of certain situations, it will help him to fall to the ground,” said Williams of Smith.
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The Baltimore native received honors from the All-Big Ten as the first team and was an AP All-American of the third team this season, after averaging 15.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. Most of the simulated drafts had Smith in his 20s, but in particular, those within the program shared feedback that scouts saw him as a chosen lottery potential. He became the first choice among the top 10 in the program since Alex Len was the fifth in 2013
Smith recorded doubles in 13 of the 14 final games last season, helping Maryland share the conference title. He was fifth in the scoring conference, second in rebounds, first in percentage of field shots, sixth in 3-point shots and first in blocks. His season was one of the best for any great man in Maryland in decades. But the Suns have the fourth NBA leader rebound entrenched in the center of Deandre Ayton, along with several veteran frontline players.