Arkansas guard Nick Smith declares for 2023 NBA Draft

One of Arkansas‘ several freshman standouts, Nick Smith Jr., has made his decision on where he’ll play basketball next season. After a stellar rookie campaign with the Razorbacks, Smith will enter his name into the 2023 NBA Draft, he announced on Thursday morning.

Smith was one of the top recruits in the entire 2022 class and was rated as the No. 3 overall player in the On3 Industry Rankings. Eric Musselman beat out Kentucky and other blue blood suitors for the local product, who happens to be from Sherwood, Arkansas and played high school ball at North Little Rock.

Obviously, Smith decided to stay in his home state for his year in college, although it didn’t play out as planned. He was injured for much of the non-conference schedule and only started playing regularly in mid-February. But from Feb. 21st through the end of the year, Smith averaged a tick under 15 points per game and helped lead Arkansas to a Sweet 16. So even with the injuries, he came out of his freshman year looking the part of his high school ranking.

More on the 2023 NBA Draft

The 2023 NBA Draft is set to take place on Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Brooklyn at Barclays Center. Round 1 of the draft will be announced by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, while Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum is expected to handle the second round of picks.

To be eligible for the NBA Draft, players must be at least 19 years in age during the calendar year that the draft is held and at least one NBA season from their high school graduation date, or the date that would have been if they are not graduated. It is not required that player spend that one year playing college basketball, though. Players can play in either college, abroad, or the G League Ignite if they choose so.

While this is a significant change from what the rules once were, players are eligible to enter their names into the NBA Draft pool and explore their options by hiring an agent to go through the process, while still keeping their college eligibility. The deadline to make that move is on April 23 beginning at 11:59 p.m. ET. Players have until June 12 at 5 p.m. ET to withdraw their name from the pool and return to college.

The NBA Draft Lottery will be held on May 16, which is also the start of the NBA Conference Finals.