Former UNC guard K.J. Smith revealed last week that he is following in the family footsteps, moving from a basketball career into a media career.
Smith is joining On3.com as a National Basketball Analyst. His father — Kenny “The Jet” Smith — has been a longtime stalwart on TNT’s NBA coverage following a successful playing career both at UNC and as a professional.
Created by Shannon Terry — who founded both Rivals.com and 24/7 Sports before selling them to Yahoo! and CBS, respectively — On3.com will focus on college sports and recruiting.
Earlier this month, it was announced the longtime ESPN college football writer Ivan Maisel was named On3’s Vice President of Editorial and a senior writer.
In a written piece for On3, Smith said that, “The sport of basketball has connected me to my greatest mentors and biggest play-makers in my life. Now, I aim to connect kids who were born to love the game, just as I was. As my playing career came to an end Shannon Terry approached me about his vision, and it’s the perfect fit to combine my love for basketball, recruiting, media, and hard work.”
After transferring to UNC from Pacific University following his freshman season, Smith played in 51 games for the Tar Heels and started in four of those contests. He finished his UNC career with averages of 0.8 points and 0.5 assists in an average of 3.6 minutes per game.
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