NBA veteran JR Smith enrolled at NC A&T and is playing collegegolf .- Smith wanted to go to an
HBCU and is relishing first-time challenges like making PowerPoints. - Smith has long been a golf fanatic, and the men's golf coach called him a boost to the program.
NBA veteran JR Smith was recently sweating a midnight deadline.
It was the first deadline of his college career - an "About Me" for an English 100 class. It was not only his first deadline as a college student, but the first PowerPoint he had ever made.
"I've never done a PowerPoint presentation," Smith told reporters over a Zoom call on Monday. It was Smith's first introduction as a student-athlete at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
As Smith tweeted late Monday night, he submitted his presentation on time.
"I had to put [together] a presentation about where do I see myself in the next five to 10 years," Smith said, adding: "I'm obviously not the average freshmen, so I don't know how I'm going to do."
Smith is beginning an unprecedented transformation for a professional athlete. A 16-year NBA veteran and two-time champion, Smith not only enrolled in college for the first time (he went straight from high school to the NBA), but he is competing on the men's golf team at NC A&T.
"Obviously different environments, from playing in front of 20,000 people to playing in the golf college golf gallery," Smith said.
Smith said while he didn't value education when he was younger, as his NBA career went on, going back and getting a degree was something he thought about more and more. Smith had initially committed to play basketball at the University of North Carolina in 2004, but decided to forgo college to play in the NBA.
"Honestly, when I started this journey, it was more about getting my education and going back to school," Smith said. While he didn't necessarily imagine playing golf - perhaps football instead - he said he was nonetheless excited for the challenge.
"It's an opportunity of a lifetime - not many have had this opportunity ever, and I just want to embrace it and take it as serious as I can."
He was also drawn to joining a HBCU.
"I wanted to go to a HBCU," Smith said. "That was my whole goal of going back to school. I wanted to, for one, give back to my community and my society and try and change the narrative as far as athletes in general and then black men as well."
Smith is not living on campus and is taking classes remotely.
As for golf, Smith has long been a golf fanatic, like many professional athletes. Smith told reporters that his love for the game began at a charity event held by former NBA player Rashard Lewis years ago. Smith, who had never played golf, said he was trash-talking Hall of Famer Moses Malone's awkward swing. The late Malone then challenged Smith to hit a ball. After hitting a lengthy drive on his first swing, he then attempted another drive and whiffed completely.
"After that, I was hooked," Smith said.
"And probably from that point, for like five or six years, I was like, really, really bad. And then after that, I really started taking it serious of hitting the range and trying to figure out my swing."
NC A&T's men's golf coach Randy Watkins said on the call that Smith's arrival would hasten the development of the program.
"The addition of JR just simply expedites that move towards a much, much better program in the very near future," Watkins said. "So we're we're excited about having him he's just going to add to what we're already doing."
Smith said he hopes his teammates, many of whom will be more than a decade younger than him, will be able to accept him for who he is.
Smith said if he got another opportunity to play in the NBA, he would take it, noting his classes are all online.
In the meantime, he is relishing a new challenge, like turning in homework assignments.
"I obviously haven't had to turn anything in and like, really have approval of anything other than my athletic ability in a really long time," Smith said. "So it's going to be different."