Philadelphia 76ers: Zhaire Smith finds a new home on cameo

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when the Philadelphia 76ers wanted nothing more than a premier perimeter defender.

Mind you, that conversation has largely been moot since Matisse Thybulle landed South Philly-side, as the University of Washington product is a magician in both man and zone coverage, but before Elton Brand traded up for his services, the team was in a pretty bad place defensively, even with Ben Simmons under contract.

I mean, need I say more than the Boston Celtics series in 2017? Philly gave up an average of 19 points per game to Terry Rozier over those five games and were even gashed by Marcus Smart, who isn’t exactly known for his offensive acumen.

Regardless of the foe, if an opposing team had a good guard, be they elite like Kyrie Irving or Devin Booker, or not-so-elite like Lou Williams or Victor Oladipo, there was always a chance the Sixers would be on the wrong side of a 30 piece if the defensive duo of Robert Covington and J.J. Redick had an off night.

To Brett Brown’s credit, in his lone season with general manager responsibilities, he attempted to address that issue by landing an elite defensive product with his team’s first-round pick. Unfortunately, after landing the perfect player for the job in Villanova’s own Mikal Bridges, Brown got greedy. He received a call from then-Phoenix Suns GM Ryan McDonough, worked the phone, and swapped out the long-armed 3-and-D wing whose mom worked for the team for a 2021 Miami Heat first-round pick – which was eventually traded to Los Angeles – and an athletically gifted off-ball guard that Brown once compared to Kawhi Leonard.

Sidebar: Do you ever wonder what about Zhaire Smith reminded Brett Brown of Kawhi Leonard? They have vastly different bodies and even more disparate games, so that comp just never made sense to me.

So, on this the two-year anniversary of the Philadelphia 76ers trading that Miami first-rounder to the Los Angeles Clippers for a package headlined by Tobias Harris, I wanted to see what Zhaire Smith is up to. *spoiler alert,* at the moment, it’s not basketball.

Ex-Philadelphia 76ers guard Zhaire Smith has found a new gig off the court.

The Zhaire Smith era of Philadelphia 76ers basketball ended with a whimper, not a bang.

After having his literal life threatened by an unfortunate allergic reaction to some sesame seeds, Smith appeared in just 13 games for the Sixers versus 39 with the then-87ers and was ultimately traded to the Detroit Pistons in November of 2020 for Tony Bradley.

For the Sixers, this was a deceptively good move. Smith was unlikely to make the 15 man roster, and Bradley both turned in some fantastic performances in a red, white, and blue uniform and helped to facilitate a trade for George Hill that looked a whole lot better at the time than in hindsight.

And as for the Pistons? Well, they were probably going to release Bradley anyway, so swapping him out for Smith, who was waived roughly a week later, saved them roughly $100,000 in cap space, which isn’t nothing. From there, Smith signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Memphis Grizzlies before the ultra late start to the 2020-21 NBA season but was waived shortly thereafter and signed to their G-League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle.

Now here, my friends, is where things get weird. Per RealGM’s Memphis Hustle transitions page for the 2020-21 season, Smith was allocated to the team on January 26th but never played a game and was deactivated and then waived due to injury on February 19th. To my knowledge, this was the final time Smith saw the court for an NBA team or one of their affiliates – assuming he actually saw the court – and he has since gone on to do some promotional work for Texas Tech, raise scholarship money for teens back in West Texas, and oh yeah, start a cameo page.

Yup, you read that correctly, for the low, low price of $50 – or $420 for business content – you can have Smith wish you a happy birthday, ask him what it was like to play alongside Joel Embiid, or beg Daryl Morey and/or Sean Marks to make that James Harden trade. While it doesn’t look like Smith has done a ton of business since opening up the shop last September, as he only has two fans and no reviews, it’s at least interesting to see that the former first-round pick is opening himself up to fan engagement while he waits for his next NBA opportunity… or doesn’t, depending on how he wants the rest of his life to play out.

Personally, I don’t blame Zhaire Smith for how things turned out in Philadelphia. He didn’t choose to be acquired for Mikal Bridges, he didn’t choose to be waived by the Detroit Pistons, and he surely didn’t choose to have a near-death experience that cost him most of his rookie season and 20 pounds. No, the initial decision to trade him is all on Brett Brown, and every time Bridges goes for 20-plus points, which he has done eight times this season, that call looks worse and worse. But hey, at least Smith hasn’t completely withdrawn from the public eye and is willing to engage with his fans; that’s a good sign for a player whose NBA career surely didn’t go as he planned. The Philadelphia 76ers ultimately found a defensive ace in Matisse Thybulle, so it all sort of worked out in the end… right?