Nets Waive Malachi Smith

Brooklyn exercised its minimum-salary team option on Smith at the end of June, but his contract was non-guaranteed, so the Nets won’t incur a cap charge by releasing him.

Smith, who went undrafted out of Gonzaga in 2023, has spent most of his first three professional seasons in the G League, but was called up by Brooklyn during the second half of 2025/26, first on a pair of 10-day deals and then on a two-year standard contract.

The 26-year-old played a regular role for a lottery-bound Nets team down the stretch and was relatively productive in his first 15 NBA games (four starts), averaging 8.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 23.9 minutes per night on .485/.435/1.000 shooting.

Smith also had his most productive NBAGL regular season in ’25/26, averaging 15.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 7.0 APG and 1.6 SPG on .506/.411/.772 shooting in 29 games (30.8 MPG). He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in a couple days if he clears waivers.

Since he only has one year of NBA experience, Smith remains eligible for a two-way contract, and the Nets do have one two-way opening.