There’s something truly magnificent about Zhaire Smith’s athletic ability. The ease in which he defies gravity has its own gravitational pull. You see one clip of him leaping for a tip dunk, or soaring for a block, and you suddenly yearn for unlimited highlights from a 21-year-old who hasn’t had a clean shot at the league since being drafted in 2018.
Since the draft day trade in 2018, Smith has only registered minutes in thirteen NBA games — 32 minutes of mostly garbage time in 2019-20, and 111 minutes across six games in the 2018-19 season.