NC State basketball sophomore Terquavion Smith goes undrafted in NBA Draft
When N.C. State guard Jarkel Joiner talked about Terquavion Smith this past season, he’d often add, “He’s a pro, man.”
Meaning Smith was a player on his way to the NBA.
If Smith is to have that chance, it will be as an undrafted free agent. The Wolfpack guard was not selected among the 58 players taken Thursday in the 2023 NBA Draft, but N.C. State announced Friday the lanky playmaker had signed a two-way deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.
That’s not what Smith had in mind when he passed up the NBA a year ago. Projected in some 2022 mock drafts as a late first-round selection after his freshman season, the Greenville native decided a second season college with the Pack would be the best, pulling his name out of the draft.
Smith, 20, averaged a team-high 17.9 points a game and joined Joiner in giving the Wolfpack one of the quickest, most productive backcourts in the ACC and the country. Both were named second-team All-ACC as the Pack went 23-11 and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019.
Smith had 30 points and eight rebounds in the Wolfpack’s 20-point win over Virginia Tech in the ACC tournament. In the NCAAs, he had 32 points in the Pack’s 72-63 first-round loss to Creighton.
Smith also had the play of the NCAA game: a driving, high-rise left-handed dunk over 7-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner that had the crowd in Denver’s Ball Arena rumbling.
“He’s an amazing basketball player. He’s going to do great things in his career,” Joiner said during the season. “I love playing with him, his energy.”
But some questions remained: about Smith’s size, about his shot selection, about how he would best fit into an NBA lineup, about his defense.
At 6-4 and 165 pounds, Smith is ultra lean. He also was a streaky shooter with the Pack, finishing the 2022-23 season making 33.6% of his 3-pointers — albeit many of those 271 shots taken from NBA distance.
“Terquavion Smith can really score and he’s dynamic,” ESPN and NBA Draft analyst Jay Bilas said. “There’s no shot that he’s afraid of, so he’ll take just about any shot, including some eyebrow-raisers, but he makes a lot of them.
“He’s not the most efficient offensive player, but he’s a jet in transition, and he’s a difficult cover. He doesn’t project necessarily as a play-maker for others, and I think there are some questions about him at the defensive end. I think he could be a much better defender than he has shown.”
Bilas said he expected Smith to be a second-round selection. Joiner, a transfer who played his last year of college basketball for the Pack, also was hopeful of being drafted Thursday.
Smith again went through various pre-draft workouts for NBA teams, saying he was more comfortable in those settings this year.
“Last year it was more like me stressing myself out a lot, mentally,” he told the media after a workout with the Washington Wizards. “I think that’s another reason I went back to school, that I wasn’t mentally ready. Last year helped me so much for this year. I’m more comfortable. I know what teams want from me and what I need to showcase.”
Asked to describe himself as a player and his style of play, Smith said, “Energetic, wiry, quick, I can shoot the ball.”
Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said he never had any qualms about Smith’s quick trigger finger on offense and the guard’s penchant for taking any shot at any time. He gave him the green light.
“I thought everybody in the country worried about Terquavion Smith except for me,” Keatts said. “The great thing about him is he’s got short term memory. He can miss 10 shots and then make 12. He’s just that type of player.”
This story was originally published June 23, 2023 at 12:55 AM.
