Donta Smith

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Donta Smith
Levallois Metropolitans
2020–2021Maccabi Haifa
2021Cangrejeros de Santurce
2023Trotamundos de Carabobo
Career highlights and awards
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com

Donta Lamont Smith (born November 27, 1983) is an American-Venezuelan professional basketball player for Trotamundos de Carabobo of the Venezuelan Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto (SPB). Playing for Maccabi Haifa, he was named the 2014 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP.

High school

Smith played his high school basketball at Oldham County High School, in Buckner, Kentucky, where he was a standout forward on the high school team, and also a record-setting wide receiver on the football team. He also played on the Kentucky (high school) All-Stars in their annual two-game series against the Indiana All-Stars.

College career

After two years of playing junior

JUCO prospects, and he committed to play NCAA Division I college basketball for Rick Pitino at the University of Louisville, with the Louisville Cardinals. However, Smith backed out of the commitment, and entered the 2004 NBA draft
instead.

Professional career

Smith was taken by the

NBA Development League affiliate, the Arkansas RimRockers.[1]

In January 2007, Smith signed a one-month contract with Bulgarian champions

Shanxi Zhongyu but was waived to make roster space available for Bonzi Wells.[2]

In 2009, Smith went on to win the

Liaoning Dinosaurs.[3]

In 2011, Smith signed with

Indios de Mayaguez of Puerto Rico,[5] and Maccabi Haifa of Israel.[6]

Smith led Haifa to its first

Israeli Super League title ever during the 2012–13 season, his first with his team, along with teammate Gal Mekel. In the following season, 2013–14, Smith was awarded the Israeli Basketball League's Most Valuable Player Award, after leading Haifa to the finals for the second time in a row. Haifa, however, could not win the title again, after losing the finals to EuroLeague superpower Maccabi Tel Aviv
. In 2014, he was chosen the MVP of the Israeli All-Star game.

In June 2014, after two successful seasons with Haifa, Smith signed a three-year contract with Israeli team

Maccabi Rishon LeZion BC
.

On November 23, 2017, Smith signed with New Basket Brindisi for the rest of the 2017–18 LBA season.[7]

On June 4, 2018, Smith signed with Santeros de Aguada for the rest of the 2018 BSN Season.[8]

On July 9, 2018, Smith signed with the French team

Élan Béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez for the 2018–19 season.[9]

On August 31, 2019, he has signed 3-months deal with

LNB Pro A.[10]
Smith averaged 8.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.

On July 15, 2020, he signed with Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Premier League.[11] On March 8, 2021, he was released by the team. In 2020-21 he was third in the Israel Basketball Premier League in three-point field goal percentage (46.0 per cent), but third in turnovers per game (3.0).[12]

On September 23, Smith signed with Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional.[13]

National team career

In August 2013, Smith was naturalized as a Venezuelan, in order for him to be able to play with the

Venezuelan national basketball team.[14] He played with Venezuela at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship
.

References

  1. ^ "Media Central Login – NBA Media Central".
  2. ^ "Dragons' new man cleared to play". www.heraldsun.com.au. December 23, 2008.
  3. ^ "Good to go: Liaoning signs its second import, Donta Smith • NiuBBall.com". December 10, 2010. Archived from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved December 11, 2010.
  4. ^ "Mexican Basketball, News, Teams, Scores, Stats, Standings, Awards - latinbasket". www.latinbasket.com.
  5. ^ "Puerto Rican Basketball, News, Teams, Scores, Stats, Standings, Awards - latinbasket". www.latinbasket.com.
  6. ^ "מנהלת ליגת העל בכדורסל | מכבי ת"א, ירושלים, מכבי חיפה ואשדוד בחצי הגמר". basket.co.il.
  7. ^ "Happy Casa Brindisi signs Donta Smith".
  8. ^ "Donta Smith signs with Santeros de Aguada". Sportando.basketball. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "Pau-Orthez signs Donta Smith". Sportando.basketball. July 9, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2018.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ Skerletic, Dario (August 31, 2019). "Metropolitans sign Donta Smith". Sportando. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  11. ^ Maggi, Alessandro (July 15, 2020). "Forward Donta Smith returns to Maccabi Haifa". Sportando. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  12. ^ "Israel basketball stats, results, box score, scout report and video online | Scouting4U".
  13. ^ "Cangrejeros de Santurce inks Donta Smith". Sportando. September 23, 2021. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  14. ^ "Donta Smith se nacionaliza y se ofrece para jugar con Venezuela". Archived from the original on 2014-12-13. Retrieved 2013-08-25.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Donta_Smith&oldid=1205481725"