Chris Smith

Sean Christian Smith was born in December of 1999 in Chicago. He is the son of Sean and Tasha Smith. Smith began his high school basketball career at Fort Worth County Day School in Fort Worth, Texas where he also played football as a quarterback and wide receiver during his freshman and sophomore years. Between these two years, the now 6-foot-9 forward grew nine inches. Smith then transferred to the basketball-focused Huntington Prep School in Huntington, West Virginia where he averaged 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists during the 2016-17 season. In January of 2017, he chose to reclassify from the class of 2018 to the class of 2017 and committed to play collegiately for the UCLA Bruins. As a 17-year-old freshman, Smith showed potential as he played in all 33 games for the Bruins and averaged 3.9 points and 1.9 rebounds in 13.1 minutes per game off the bench. He saw improvement statistically as he played more in his sophomore year, averaging 6.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in 19.7 minutes per game. Smith's game then made huge strides during his junior season when he started 26 of 31 total games and led the Bruins in scoring with 13.1 points per game and was the team's second-leading rebounder with 5.4 per game. This jump in play led Smith to be named the Pac-12's Most Improved Player to go along with first-team All-Pac-12 honors as UCLA finished second in the Pac-12 Conference. After this breakout season, Smith declared for the 2020 NBA Draft, but later withdrew, instead deciding to return to UCLA for his senior season. He would average 12.6 points on 43.8 percent shooting, 3.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists over eight games before suffering a torn ACL that kept him out for the remainder of the season. In July of 2021, Smith declared for the 2021 NBA Draft while once again maintaining his eligibility to return to UCLA, but ultimately decided to stay in the draft. In August of 2021, Smith, an undrafted free agent, signed a two-way contract to play for the Detroit Pistons and their G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise.