Braden Smith selected No. 38 overall by Pacers | 2026 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

1. Should be great for ticket sales!

2. WELCOME TO THE PACERS BRADEN!!! IMA BUY YOUR JERSEY THE SECOND IT COMES OUT!

3. Dillion Mitchell was there

4. TJ McConnell now has a protégé to train up.

5. Elwatch for TJ McConnell to be moved now. Pacers draft smith for back up PG. He is ready to play day one. Won’t be a star but can pass, shoot and run an offense

6. Size doesn't matter it's how you play speed kills
   PACERS BOOM BABY YES-SER CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT YEAR,

7. The best passer in the draft. Hits rollers with his eyes closed. Dosen't turn it over. Hits lobs, bounce passes, transition hit aheads, kickouts, jump passes, manipulates the defense in the air by looking one way and passing another. Pass is extremely tight and excellent touch, always lands in the shooting pocket. Goes through his ball screen reads as the play develops, tries to get the tagger to bite. Also nashes around the floor and you can't take the ball from him because he's strong with it. The ultimate pass first PG. Knows exactly how the defense is going to react, and sets up his screens with his dribble moves and jabs to make them get hit. Unreal basketball IQ pretty much. Ridiculous mid-range shotmaker, has a niche shot fake to get defenders up in the air, elite and tight handle to get to his spots. Instead of shooting layups, smith will instead just take a mid range shot that works for him. High release point and can step into it off one or two feet. Never rushed getting to this area, snakes, sidesteps, step backs, spins into mid range looks, he lives in this portion of the court.

   Drilled 49.7 percent on pull-up midrange jumpers this year, a ridiculous number given that he took the sixth-most pull-up midrange jumpers in college basketball, per Synergy. Had the fourth-best mark out of 54 players in college basketball to take 100 pull-up midrange jumpers and was tops among all high-major players. Between the legs, in and outs, tight handle sets him up for these. Also a good 3pt shooter if he dosen't take a lot. Hit 38.5 percent from 3 in his college career and 36.2 percent this season, and he increased the pull-up volume from distance over his last two years. Fast and quick release while staying compact. The worry is that he can't guard anyone, and will most likely get targeted. His pull up shooting numbers could be better. Dosen't seperate from his man getting to the rim. Rim finishing is non existent. May have to be an exclusive back up only guard. Can't cover ground in 1 on 2 situations, teams will most likely put him in actions. Too skinny and dosen't get under defenders dribble. Needs to ball screen to score 1v1, lacks first step explosiveness to clear his defender. Can't recover if he's beat to the rim.

8. Super excited for this!!!

9. Gonna be sad again

10. Pacers ticket sales are down and they wanted the hometown star to sell seats. Smith would have a better career with another team. Pacers aren't going help his career.

11. I would love to get Evan turner’s take on the pacer’s taking smith.

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