Rolands Šmits

Šmits came up through the junior youth ranks of the Latvian club BK Valmiera. He left his native Latvia, for Spain in 2011. He joined the Spanish club Baloncesto Fuenlabrada, and played for their feeder team in the amateur Spanish fourth-tier level Liga EBA, in the 2011–12 season.

Šmits made his debut in the Spanish top-tier level Liga ACB, with Fuenlabrada, during the 2012–13 season, while also seeing action for Grupo Eulen Carrefour El Bulevar de Ávila, in the country’s third-tier division LEB Plata, that same season. From 2013 to 2015, he primarily played for Fuenlabrada's reserve team in LEB Plata sides Fundación Baloncesto Fuenlabrada and the affiliated team Viten Getafe respectively.{{Cite web|url=http://competiciones.feb.es/estadisticas/Jugador.aspx?i=633144&c=1871849|title=Federación Española de Baloncesto - Competiciones FEB|website=competiciones.feb.es|access-date=2017-02-15}} But, he also earned increasing playing minutes in the top-tier level ACB.

In the 2016–17 season, Šmits won the European-wide 2nd-tier level EuroCup's Rising Star Award,[https://web.archive.org/web/20170324085917/http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/eurocup/news/i/7oxstwyduq99847h 2016-17 7DAYS EuroCup Rising Star Trophy winner: Rolands Smits, Montakit Fuenlabrada.] after shooting 55.1% from the field overall, 60.4% from 2 point field goal range, and 48.8% from 3 point field goal range, while averaging 9.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, 0.9 assists, and 0.6 steals per game,[https://web.archive.org/web/20210919222344/https://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=007109&seasoncode=U2016 SMITS, ROLANDS EuroCup 2016-17 STATISTICS.] with Fuenlabrada during the EuroCup season.

On 18 September 2017, Šmits signed a five-year contract with FC Barcelona, but stayed on loan at Fuenlabrada until the summer of 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fcbarcelona.com/sections/basketball/first-team/news/2017-2018/agreement-for-the-transfer-of-rolands-smits-to-barca-lassa|title=Agreement for the transfer of Rolands Smits to Barça Lassa|publisher=FC Barcelona|date=September 18, 2017}} On 30 June 2022, Šmits parted ways with Barcelona after his contract with the club expired.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/basketball/first-team/news/2654811/smits-davies-and-hayes-davis-to-leave-fc-barcelona|title= Smits, Davies and Hayes-Davis to leave FC Barcelona|publisher=FC Barcelona|date=June 24, 2022|accessdate=June 1, 2023}} Over four seasons with Barça from 2018 to 2022, Šmits averaged 4.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in the EuroLeague, along with 5.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in the Liga ACB, mostly serving as a backup for Nikola Mirotić.

On 3 July 2022, Šmits signed a two-year contract with Žalgiris Kaunas of the LKL and the EuroLeague.{{Cite web|title=Former Barcelona big man Rolands Smits signs with Zalgiris|url=https://zalgiris.lt/en/news/bc-zalgiris/102022/|publisher=Žalgiris|date=3 July 2022|access-date=1 June 2023}} On 25 May 2023, Šmits agreed on a three-year contract extension until 2026, with opt-out clauses after each season.{{Cite web|title=Zalgiris reaches contract extension with Rolands Smits|url=https://zalgiris.lt/en/news/bc-zalgiris/108176/|publisher=Žalgiris|date=25 May 2023|access-date=1 June 2023}}{{Cite web|title= Rolands Smits signs contract extension at Zalgiris until 2026|url=https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/news/rolands-smits-signs-contract-extension-at-zalgiris-until-2026/|publisher=EuroLeague|date=25 May 2023|access-date=1 June 2023}}

On June 15, 2024, he signed with Anadolu Efes of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi.{{Cite web|url=https://www.anadoluefessk.org/haber/rolands-smits-anadolu-efes-te|title=Rolands Smits Anadolu Efes’te|last=|first=|date=June 15, 2024|website=anadoluefessk.org|publisher=|language=tr|access-date=June 15, 2024}}

Šmits competed with Latvia's junior national teams at the 2011 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, and at the 2012 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship and 2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. He also played with Latvia's junior national team at the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship and at the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fibaeurope.com/compID_qMRZdYCZI6EoANOrUf9le2.season_2015.roundID_9318.teamID_2134.playerID_85831.html|title=Rolands Smits {{!}} EuroBasket (2015) {{!}} FIBA Europe|website=www.fibaeurope.com|access-date=2017-02-15}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20170326225705/http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/p/rpp//q/rolands%20smits/pid//_//players.html Rolands SMITS (LAT).]

Šmits received his first cap with the senior men's Latvian national basketball team in 2014. In 2017, Šmits competed with the Latvian national team at the EuroBasket 2017 tournament, averaging 5.6 points and 2.0 rebounds as the team finished 5th overall.

;FC Barcelona

• Liga ACB: (2021)
• 3× Copa del Rey: (2019, 2021, 2022)

;Žalgiris Kaunas

• Lithuanian League: (2023)
• King Mindaugas Cup: (2023)

• EuroCup Rising Star: (2017)
• Spanish League All-Young Players Team: (2017)

{{Euroleague player statistics legend}}

{{Euroleague player statistics start}}

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| 2018–19

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4"|Barcelona

| 14 || 0 || 11.5 || .389 || .370 || .909 || 1.6 || .5 || .3 || .2 || 4.4 || 3.5

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| 2019–20

| 16 || 10 || 9.9 || .442 || .474 || .750 || 1.8 || .3 || .1 || .1 || 3.1 || 2.2

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| 2020–21

| style="background:#CFECEC;"|41* || 8 || 15.9 || .573 || .396 || .767 || 3.2 || .6 || .4 || .2 || 5.5 || 6.0

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| 2021–22

| 36 || 3 || 14.8 || .477 || .196 || .920 || 3.1 || .6 || .4 || .1 || 4.4 || 4.8

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| 2022–23

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| Žalgiris

| 37 || 36 || 23.3 || .491 || .383 || .855 || 4.7 || 1.1 || .4 || .1 || 9.7 || 9.4

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| 2023–24

| 31 || 24 || 22.9 || .512 || .375 || .773 || 4.3 || 1.2 || .6 || .1 || 10.5 || 10.5

|- class="sortbottom"

| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|Career

| 175 || 81 || 17.6 || .500 || .361 || .824 || 3.5 || .8 || .4 || .1 || 6.7 || 6.7

{{S-end}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.acb.com/jugador/temporada-a-temporada/id/20209986 Rolands Šmits] at acb.com {{in lang|es}}
• [http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Rolands-Smits-62387/ Rolands Šmits] at draftexpress.com
• [http://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Rolands_Smits/Spain/Montakit-Fuenlabrada/214255 Rolands Šmits] eurobasket.com
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20220118113714/http://euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=007109&seasoncode=E2021#!careerstats Rolands Šmits] at euroleague.net
• [https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/rolands-smits/007109/ Rolands Šmits] at euroleaguebasketball.com
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170326225705/http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/p/rpp//q/rolands%20smits/pid//_//players.html Rolands Šmits] at fiba.com (archive)
• [http://www.fibaeurope.com/compID_qMRZdYCZI6EoANOrUf9le2.season_2015.roundID_9318.teamID_2134.playerID_85831.html Rolands Šmits] at fibaeurope.com
• [http://www.nbadraft.net/players/rolands-smits Rolands Šmits] at nbadraft.net
• [https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Rolands-Smits/Summary/27874 Rolands Šmits] at realgm.com
• [https://twitter.com/rsmits95?lang=en Rolands Šmits] at twitter.com

{{Anadolu Efes S.K. current roster}}

{{Eurocup Rising Star}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smits, Rolands}}

Category:1995 births

Category:Living people

Category:2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players

Category:Baloncesto Fuenlabrada players

Category:BC Žalgiris players

Category:FC Barcelona Bàsquet players

Category:Latvian expatriate basketball people in Lithuania

Category:Latvian expatriate basketball people in Spain

Category:Latvian men's basketball players

Category:Liga ACB players

Category:Power forwards

Category:Small forwards

Category:Sportspeople from Valmiera