Scoring was never an issue for Steve Smith in the NBA.
Drafted with the No. 5 pick of the 1991 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat, Smith was quick to find his shot. He averaged 12.1 points with 4.6 assists during his rookie season and 17.3 points with 5.1 assists in season No. 2. Two games into the 1994-95 season, Smith was traded to the Atlanta Hawks, where he would play some of the best basketball of his career.
Smith averaged 18.6 points and 3.6 assists over four-plus seasons in Atlanta and his first and only All-Star team in 1997-98. Smith was traded to Portland during the summer of 1999, joining forces with one of the best teams in the West. Smith helped Portland reach the Western Conference finals in 2000 before being eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers. That summer, Smith won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics as a member of the United States men’s national basketball team.
After two seasons in Portland, Smith was traded to another contender in the West — San Antonio. At age 32, Smith played a vital role for San Antonio as their starting shooting guard during 2001-02, leading the league in 3-point percentage at 47.2 percent. Smith added a championship ring to his resume during the 2003 NBA Finals when San Antonio dropped New Jersey in six games.
Smith finished his career with stints in New Orleans, Charlotte and Miami before retiring in 2005. He honed his announcing chops with the Atlanta Hawks and the Big Ten Network before joining NBA TV and the Turner family in 2008.
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