![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Tyler-Smith-31.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBasketball became his sole focus in eighth grade after giving up football, and by his 10th grade summer, Tyler had developed into one of the top prospects in his class. \u201cI was consistently getting better\u2013playing against the top players and playing good against them, and going to top camps and being one of the best players,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThat\u2019s when I realized I\u2019m pretty good at basketball.\u201d Many of the elite college programs in the nation realized it, too. He received offers from schools like Kansas, Baylor, Houston, Texas, Florida State and others. But Tyler had his eyes set on something even bigger. And with more pathways to the League than ever before, he decided to forgo his last two years of high school and college eligibility and turn pro, at 16 years old. His mind was made up; his goals were set, and he wanted to position himself to streamline the process of achieving them. \u201cI realized school isn\u2019t for everybody,\u201d he says of his decision. \u201cI just wanted to play basketball and go to the NBA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, Tyler is one of the most consistent players on the NBA G League Ignite squad. Naturally, the G League doesn\u2019t yet garner as much media attention as the NCAA, so there isn\u2019t as much \u201chype\u201d surrounding Tyler\u2019s name relative to some of his draft classmates. But Tyler (and any good NBA general manager, for that matter) knows that hype isn\u2019t what wins championships. While most players preparing for the draft have to balance school and other obligations, Tyler\u2019s only responsibility is hoop. In this regard, he\u2019s already a step ahead of many of his peers, in addition to playing in an NBA system, with and against NBA vets, and training with NBA-level coaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Night in and night out, with G League Ignite, he displays his do-it-all skill set that has him projected to be a first-round pick in the upcoming 2024 NBA Draft. He\u2019s a walking mismatch, big enough to punish small guards and quick enough to exploit traditional bigs. He\u2019s bouncy and lengthy enough to finish at the rim on one end and protect the rim on the other. And he\u2019s still getting stronger and adding muscle mass, which adds to his upside as a potential plus-defender in the League. But what Tyler does best is put points on the board. He\u2019s a lefty sniper with beautiful shooting mechanics and extended range beyond the arc that can often leave opposing defenses in a frenzy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His talent alone could support a 10-year stint in the League where the average career span is less than half that. But when you attach Tyler\u2019s talent to his intangibles and work ethic, you\u2019re looking at someone who could be a multi-time all-star and then some. How great he becomes is completely up to him, and he seems ready to attack any challenges that are on the way. He\u2019s a coach\u2019s dream, a sponge, willing to play any role to have a positive impact on the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI feel like I can make an [instant] impact with my shooting and length on defense,\u201c he says, looking ahead to his rookie season.\u201dBut I just want to do whatever it takes to stay on the floor\u2013be more vocal, set picks, do the little things just to prepare for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photos by Max Scheide<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tyler Smith is only 19 years old, but his approach to the game is well beyond his age. The 6-10 stretch forward from Houston has all the physical tools to become a household name in the league one day. Yet, it\u2019s his mental makeup that has NBA front offices envisioning the former 5-star recruit as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":794974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49435],"tags":[64511,62525,28816,63634,2866,2210,2466],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-794953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-magazine","tag-2024-nba-draft","tag-feature-1","tag-g-league","tag-g-league-ignite","tag-houston","tag-nba-draft","tag-tyler-smith"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794953"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":794990,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794953\/revisions\/794990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794953"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=794953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Tyler-Smith-4.png\")
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