Real Madrid has completed the signing of Nick Smith Jr., who will be a white jersey player through the 2026-27 season. The 22-year-old American shooting guard has passed his medical examination and is ready to join training, the club announced.
What arrives and when
The signing comes with the preseason practically finished and the team about to compete in the Abu Dhabi SuperCup, where they face Dubai in the semifinals this Friday. In other words, Smith Jr. will have to catch up on the fly.
He arrives, moreover, to an already populated perimeter: Facundo Campazzo, Andrés Feliz, Max Shulga, Theo Maledon, Alberto Abalde, and Gabriele Procida, plus Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, who has been the standout player in Real Madrid's preseason.
2025-26 season numbers
His statistics from last season have two sides and it's worth presenting them separately, as they explain the signing.
In the NBA, he played 30 games with the Lakers, averaging 6.2 points in 12.5 minutes with a 39.5 percent three-point percentage. He spent almost the entire season on a two-way contract and was promoted to the 15-man roster just before the playoffs.
In the G League with the South Bay Lakers, it was a different story: 18 games with 19.7 points, 5 assists, and 3.6 rebounds in 29.2 minutes, shooting 49.8 percent from the field.
That contrast is exactly what Madrid is buying. Not the twelve-minute player, but the one who dominates when he has the ball and playing time.
Who he is
Selected 27th overall in the 2023 Draft by the Charlotte Hornets after just one season at Arkansas, Smith Jr. spent his first two seasons in North Carolina, where he posted his best numbers in 2024-25: 9.9 points, 2.4 assists, and 2.1 rebounds in 60 games with 27 starts.
The Hornets released him in September 2025 and the Lakers signed him days later. He stands 1.96 meters tall and his profile is more of a scoring shooting guard than a pure point guard.
This is his first experience in European basketball.