Nick Smith Jr. Signs Two-Year Contract

Two-way players are not eligible to play in the postseason, so the Lakers signed Smith to a standard deal to give them another ball-handler with both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves dealing with injuries. They opened up a roster spot by waiving Kobe Bufkin, who they signed earlier in the season.

Previous to landing in L.A., Smith was a first-round draft pick of the Charlotte Hornets in 2023 out of Arkansas. His best season in Charlotte was his second in the NBA when he put up 9.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists on 39.1% from the field and 34.1% from 3.

Smith hasn’t gotten many opportunities with the Lakers this season but has seemed to impress whenever he does. Notably in this past week, Smith put up two quality scoring outings with 12 points and 11 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors, respectively. Particularly in San Francisco, Smith hit four of his five 3-pointers in 11 minutes.

The other two-way player the Lakers could have upgraded to be eligible for the postseason was Drew Timme. However, L.A. decided to add an insurance option behind LeBron James and Luke Kennard. With Doncic and Reaves expected to be sidelined for the entirety of the first round, head coach JJ Redick will need all hands on deck.

JJ Redick likes when Nick Smith Jr. is aggressive

Morale has certainly been tested by the unfortunate injury luck to close the regular season, but the Lakers need to rally around one another to make a run in the playoffs.

Smith, in particular, relies on his on-ball creation to be productive, but he also shown a potential to be a solid spot-up shooter. Now heading into the postseason, every player needs to play their best basketball and Redick wants Smith to be aggressive when he is on the court. He likely won’t be in the postseason rotation, but if Redick turns to Smith at some point, he doesn’t want him to be passive offensively.