Donta Smith

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Donta Smith

| image = Donta Smith (2).JPG

| caption = Smith with Hapoel Jerusalem, 2015

| position = Small forward

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 7

| weight_lbs = 220

| league =

| team = Free agent

| number =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1983|11|27|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.

| nationality = American / Venezuelan

| high_school = Oldham County (Buckner, Kentucky)

| college = Southeastern Illinois (2002–2004)

| draft_year = 2004

| draft_round = 2

| draft_pick = 34

| draft_team = Atlanta Hawks

| career_start = 2004

| career_end =

| years1 = {{nbay|2004|start}}–{{nbay|2005|end}}

| team1 = Atlanta Hawks

| years2 = 2005–2006

| team2 = →Arkansas RimRockers

| years3 = 2007

| team3 = Academic Sofia

| years4 = 2008

| team4 = Shanxi Zhongyu

| years5 = 2008–2009

| team5 = South Dragons

| years6 = 2009

| team6 = Gigantes de Carolina

| years7 = 2009–2010

| team7 = Shanxi Zhongyu

| years8 = 2010

| team8 = Marinos de Anzoátegui

| years9 = 2010

| team9 = Vaqueros de Bayamón

| years10 = 2010

| team10 = Espartanos de Margarita

| years11 = 2010–2011

| team11 = Liaoning Dinosaurs

| years12 = 2011

| team12 = Marinos de Anzoátegui

| years13 = 2011

| team13 = Fuerza Regia

| years14 = 2012

| team14 = Indios de Mayagüez

| years15 = 2012–2014

| team15 = Maccabi Haifa

| years16 = 2014–2016

| team16 = Hapoel Jerusalem

| years17 = 2017

| team17 = Bucaneros de La Guaira

| years18 = 2017

| team18 = Piratas de Quebradillas

| years19 = 2017–2018

| team19 = Brindisi

| years20 = 2018

| team20 = Santeros de Aguada.

| years21 = 2018–2019

| team21 = Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez

| years22 = 2019–2020

| team22 = Levallois Metropolitans

| years23 = 2020–2021

| team23 = Maccabi Haifa

| years24 = 2021

| team24 = Cangrejeros de Santurce

| years25 = 2023

| team25 = Trotamundos de Carabobo

| highlights =

2× LPB champion (2011, 2021)
LPB Grand Final MVP (2011)
All-LPB Second Team (2021)
Israeli Super League MVP (2014)
2× Israeli Super League Quintet (2014, 2016)
2× Israeli Super League champion (2013, 2015)
BSN champion (2012)
BSN Most Valuable Player (2012)
BSN First Team (2012)
BSN Defensive First Team (2012)
BSN All-Star (2012)
NBL champion (2009)
NBL Grand Final MVP (2009)
First-team NJCAA All-American (2004)

| medaltemplates =

}}

Donta Lamont Smith (born November 27, 1983) is an American-Venezuelan professional basketball player for Trotamundos de Carabobo of the Venezuelan Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto (SPB). Playing for Maccabi Haifa, he was named the 2014 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP.

High school

Smith played his high school basketball at Oldham County High School, in Buckner, Kentucky, where he was a standout forward on the high school team, and also a record-setting wide receiver on the football team. He also played on the Kentucky (high school) All-Stars in their annual two-game series against the Indiana All-Stars.

College career

After two years of playing junior college basketball at Southeastern Illinois College, Smith was rated as one of the top JUCO prospects, and he committed to play NCAA Division I college basketball for Rick Pitino at the University of Louisville, with the Louisville Cardinals. However, Smith backed out of the commitment, and entered the 2004 NBA draft instead.

Professional career

Smith was taken by the Atlanta Hawks in the second round of the 2004 NBA draft, after playing JUCO college basketball at Southeastern Illinois College, and he averaged 3.3 points per game for the Hawks during his two-season stint. On December 2, 2005, the Hawks assigned Smith to their NBA Development League affiliate, the Arkansas RimRockers.{{Cite web|url=https://mediacentral.nba.com/login/|title=Media Central Login – NBA Media Central}}

In January 2007, Smith signed a one-month contract with Bulgarian champions Academic Sofia, which could possibly be extended to five months. On December 24, 2008, Smith signed with the South Dragons of the Australian National Basketball League. He had previously been with the Chinese Basketball Association's Shanxi Zhongyu but was waived to make roster space available for Bonzi Wells.{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/archive/old-sport-pages/dragons-new-man-cleared-to-play/news-story/791e4d2842e74a4e3697fcc298197c8d|title=Dragons' new man cleared to play|date=December 23, 2008|website=www.heraldsun.com.au}}

In 2009, Smith went on to win the 2009 NBL championship with the South Dragons, and was named Finals MVP after starring for the team in the 5-game series. After one season with the South Dragons, Smith would return to the Shanxi Zhongyu for the 2009–10 season. In December 2010 he signed with the Liaoning Dinosaurs.{{Cite web|url=http://www.niubball.com/2010/12/good-to-go-liaoning-signs-its-second-import-donta-smith/|title=Good to go: Liaoning signs its second import, Donta Smith • NiuBBall.com|date=December 10, 2010|access-date=December 11, 2010|archive-date=December 16, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101216040324/http://www.niubball.com/2010/12/good-to-go-liaoning-signs-its-second-import-donta-smith/|url-status=dead}}

In 2011, Smith signed with Fuerza Regia in Mexico.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latinbasket.com/Mexico/basketball.aspx?NewsID=245183|title=Mexican Basketball, News, Teams, Scores, Stats, Standings, Awards - latinbasket|website=www.latinbasket.com}} He later played for the Indios de Mayaguez of Puerto Rico,{{Cite web|url=https://www.latinbasket.com/Puerto-Rico/basketball.aspx?NewsID=259900|title=Puerto Rican Basketball, News, Teams, Scores, Stats, Standings, Awards - latinbasket|website=www.latinbasket.com}} and Maccabi Haifa of Israel.{{Cite web|url=http://basket.co.il/News.asp?id=4755|title=מנהלת ליגת העל בכדורסל | מכבי ת"א, ירושלים, מכבי חיפה ואשדוד בחצי הגמר|website=basket.co.il}}

Smith led Haifa to its first Israeli Super League title ever during the 2012–13 season, his first with his team, along with teammate Gal Mekel. In the following season, 2013–14, Smith was awarded the Israeli Basketball League's Most Valuable Player Award, after leading Haifa to the finals for the second time in a row. Haifa, however, could not win the title again, after losing the finals to EuroLeague superpower Maccabi Tel Aviv. In 2014, he was chosen the MVP of the Israeli All-Star game.

In June 2014, after two successful seasons with Haifa, Smith signed a three-year contract with Israeli team Hapoel Jerusalem. In his first season with the team, he was instrumental in its winning its first ever national championship. He left Hapoel Jerusalem in July 2016 after losing the opportunity for a second title to Maccabi Rishon LeZion BC.

On November 23, 2017, Smith signed with New Basket Brindisi for the rest of the 2017–18 LBA season.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sportando.com/en/italy/serie-a/254974/happy-casa-brindisi-signs-donta-smith.html|title=Happy Casa Brindisi signs Donta Smith}}

On June 4, 2018, Smith signed with Santeros de Aguada for the rest of the 2018 BSN Season.{{Cite web|url=https://sportando.basketball/en/america/puerto-rico/275947/donta-smith-signs-with-santeros-de-aguada.html|title=Donta Smith signs with Santeros de Aguada|publisher=Sportando.basketball|date=4 June 2018|access-date=6 June 2018}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

On July 9, 2018, Smith signed with the French team Élan Béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez for the 2018–19 season.{{Cite web|url=https://sportando.basketball/en/france/pro-a/280944/pau-orthez-signs-donta-smith.html|title=Pau-Orthez signs Donta Smith|work=Sportando.basketball|date=July 9, 2018|access-date=July 9, 2018}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

On August 31, 2019, he has signed 3-months deal with Levallois Metropolitans of the LNB Pro A.{{Cite news|url=https://sportando.basketball/en/metropolitans-sign-donta-smith/|title=Metropolitans sign Donta Smith|date=August 31, 2019|newspaper=Sportando|language=En|access-date=September 2, 2019|last1=Skerletic |first1=Dario }} Smith averaged 8.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.

On July 15, 2020, he signed with Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Premier League.{{cite news |title=Forward Donta Smith returns to Maccabi Haifa |url=https://sportando.basketball/en/forward-donta-smith-returns-to-maccabi-haifa/ |website=Sportando |access-date=July 15, 2020 |date=July 15, 2020|last1=Maggi |first1=Alessandro }} On March 8, 2021, he was released by the team. In 2020-21 he was third in the Israel Basketball Premier League in three-point field goal percentage (46.0 per cent), but third in turnovers per game (3.0).{{cite web | url=http://old.scouting4u.com/35,3,0,0/israel-basketball-leaders | title=Israel basketball stats, results, box score, scout report and video online | Scouting4U }}

On September 23, 2021, Smith signed with Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional.{{cite news |title=Cangrejeros de Santurce inks Donta Smith |url=https://sportando.basketball/en/cangrejeros-de-santurce-inks-donta-smith/ |website=Sportando |access-date=September 23, 2021 |date=September 23, 2021}}

National team career

In August 2013, Smith was naturalized as a Venezuelan, in order for him to be able to play with the Venezuelan national basketball team.{{Cite web |url=http://noticiaaldia.com/2013/08/donta-smit-se-nacionaliza-y-se-ofrece-para-jugar-con-venezuela/ |title=Donta Smith se nacionaliza y se ofrece para jugar con Venezuela |access-date=2013-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213223210/http://noticiaaldia.com/2013/08/donta-smit-se-nacionaliza-y-se-ofrece-para-jugar-con-venezuela/ |archive-date=2014-12-13 |url-status=dead }} He played with Venezuela at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship.