Joe Smith

The Gift

Joseph Leynard Smith (Joe Smith)  was born July 26, 1975, in Norfolk, Virginia is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA.

A 6' 10" power forward, Smith was the College Player of the Year at Maryland in 1995 and taken with the No. 1 pick of that season's NBA Draft. He was named to the 1995–96 All-Rookie team.

For the next three seasons Smith played for the Milwaukee Bucks. Prior to the 2006–07 season, Smith moved on to the Nuggets, where he only played in 11 games before being traded, along with Andre Miller, back to the 76ers for Allen Iverson. Despite being considered an add-in on the deal, Smith averaged over 25 minutes per game with the 76ers, in the team's second half battle to make the playoffs, in which they just missed out on.

For the 2007–08 season, Smith signed with the Chicago Bulls. Smith averaged over 11 points and 5 rebounds per game for the Bulls, but the team managed only 33 wins the whole season. Smith was traded in a three team deal at the trade deadline to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

On August 13, 2008, Smith was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a three-team, six-player deal involving the Thunder, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Cleveland Cavaliers that sent Milwaukee's Mo Williams to Cleveland, Smith and Milwaukee's Desmond Mason to Oklahoma City, and Cleveland's Damon Jones and Oklahoma City's Luke Ridnour and Adrian Griffin to Milwaukee.

The Thunder traded Smith to the New Orleans Hornets along with Chris Wilcox and draft rights to Devon Hardin on February 17, 2009 for Tyson Chandler but on February 18, 2009 the trade was rescinded after Tyson Chandler failed a physical with Oklahoma City..

On March 1, 2009, the Thunder bought out the remainder of Smith's contract and released him. Two nights later, he agreed to terms to return to Cleveland and rejoin the Cavaliers.

On August 25, 2009, he signed a one year contract with the Atlanta Hawks. On March 17, 2010, Smith became the 92nd player in NBA history to reach 1000 games played, in a victory over the New Jersey Nets.

On September 10, 2010, Smith signed a deal with the New Jersey Nets.

Reportedly, on December 14, 2010, Smith was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in a 3-team trade which sent Sasha Vujacic and a first round pick (one from each team) to the Nets, and Terrence Williams to the Houston Rockets.