In a bit of a surprise, the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday announced that they had signed 10-day player Malachi Smith to a two year standard deal. Shams Charania was first with the news, that the Nets later confirmed…
Smith’s signing
gives the Nets the league maxium of 15 standard deals and three two-ways with five games left in the 2025-26 season.
Neither Shams nor the Nets provided details on the contract, but in the past, Brooklyn has signed a number of players to multi-year, non-guaranteed deals late in the season, among them Kessler Edwards, David Duke Jr. and current Net Jalen Wilson. In those cases, the players contracts only became guaranteed for the second year if they made the final roster the following October.
On Friday night, Smith had expressed his gratitude for his opportunity with Brooklyn.
“It’s been like a blessing, for sure,” Smith said after Friday night’s loss to the Hawks. “But I think it’s just a testament to my work and my journey. If anyone knows my journey, it’s anything but easy.
“And, for me, I’m just trying to stay present and just be the same player; but just be grateful and just do what got me here. So, obviously there’s a transition: physically, athletically, thinking the game a lot faster. But at the end of the day, it’s still basketball. So just having that same mentality, just going out there having fun and controlling the things I could control.”
Smith, 26, becomes the eighth rookie on the Nets roster this season. In addition to the Flatbush Five and Smith, two other first year players with no NBA experience have donned the black-and-white: Grant Nelson who played four games on a 10-day in February and March before being sidelined with patellar tendinitis, and current two-way Chaney Johnson who’s played 14 games with Brooklyn, averaging 7.8 points per game. Both are 23.
Smith played 39 total games in Long Island this season before being called up on March 13. Undrafted out of Gonzaga in 2023, he previously played for the G League affiliates of the Trailblazers, Bucks and Grizzlies who traded him to Long Island last September.
His numbers jumped January 6 when Long Island coach Mfon Udofia inserted him at point guard after Nolan Traore was called up to Brooklyn. In 24 games after that, Smith averaged 17.7 points, 7.3 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals while shooting 51.9% overall and 42.9% from deep. He’s upped his game again over the last 10 games, averaging 18.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 7.8 assists while shooting 57.9% from the field and converting 50% of his opportunities from beyond the arc.
He joined high school teammate, Nets two-way E.J. Liddell, on the Brooklyn roster. The two, playing for Belleville West High School in Belleville, Illinois, won the state championship in 2018. Liddell is a year younger.
Smith is the fourth call-up for Long Island which finished its season two nights ago with a loss in the opening round of the G League playoffs. In addition to Smith, Nelson and Trevon Scott, called up by Brooklyn, Nate Williams was signed to a two-way by the Golden State Warriors.
Long Island now ranks fourth in the number of G League call-ups this season, behind Memphis with five, San Antonio six and Cleveland seven.
- Nets reward Malachi Smith with two-year contract after ‘anything but easy’ journey to NBA – Brian Lewis – New York Post
