- Leon Smith
Infobox NBA Player
name = Leon Smith
position = Power forward
height_ft = 6 | height_in = 10
weight_lbs = 235
nationality = USA
birth_date = birth date and age|1980|11|2
birth_place =Chicago ,Illinois
highschool = Martin Luther King
college = N/A
draft = 29th overall
draft_team =San Antonio Spurs
draft_year = 1999
career_start = 1999
career_end =
former_teams =St. Louis Swarm (2000-01)
Sioux Falls Skyforce (2001-02)
Gary Steelheads (2002)
Atlanta Hawks (2002)
Gary Steelheads (2002-03)
Caguas Creoles (2003)
Texas Rim Rockers (2003)
Gary Steelheads (2003-04)
Great Lakes Storm (2004)Seattle SuperSonics (2004)Estudiantes de Bahia Blanca (2007)Dorados de Playa del Carmen (2008)
awards =Leon Smith (born
November 2 1980 inChicago ,Illinois ) is an American professionalbasketball player. He has played in the NBA, the CBA, the USBL and the IBL, and abroad in Puerto Rico and Argentina.Smith was raised in a foster home, called Lydia Home for Foster Children, as a ward of the state of Illinois due to neglect from his parents when he was five years old. [ [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/thenetwork/news/1999/08/27/pageone_leonsmith/ Hard times for Leon Smith ] ]
Smith was selected out of Chicago's Martin Luther King High School by the
San Antonio Spurs in the first round (29th overall) of the1999 NBA Draft and was immediately traded to theDallas Mavericks in exchange for the draft rights toGordan Giriček and a second-round pick in the2000 NBA Draft . Before ever playing a game with the Mavs, he was released in February 2000. [ [http://www.cnn.com/cnnsi/basketball/nba/news/2000/02/02/mavericks_smith_ap/index.html Mavericks release rookie Leon Smith ] ] A month previous, Smith was released from a psychiatric ward to where he was committed for several weeks, after an incident in which he threw a rock through a car window and swallowed approximately 250aspirin tablets. [ [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/news/2000/01/07/smith_update_ap/ Suspended Mavs rookie checks out of psychiatric ward ] ]In January 2002, Smith was signed by the
Atlanta Hawks for whom he played 14 games. His short stint with the Hawks involved being waived, signed back a second time, and eventually being traded to theMilwaukee Bucks , for whom he never played. [ [http://www.nba.com/hawks/news/Hawks_Transactions_Archive.html Hawks transactions archive ] ]Late in the
2003-04 NBA season , theSeattle SuperSonics signed Smith to a contract, [ [http://www.nba.com/sonics/news/Sonics_Sign_Leon_Smith.html Sonics Sign Leon Smith ] ] but he only played one game for them.Notes
External links
* [http://www.nba.com/playerfile/leon_smith/index.html NBA.com profile]
* [http://www.hoopshype.com/players/leon_smith.htm Career transactions @ hoopshype.com]
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