Leon Smith

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Leon Smith (born November 2, 1980 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American professional basketball player. He has played in the NBA, the CBA, the USBL, and the IBL.

Smith was selected out of high school by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round (29th overall) of the 1999 NBA Draft and immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks the draft rights to Gordan Giricek and a second-round pick in the 2000 NBA Draft. Before ever playing a game with the Mavs, he was released in February 2000. ^[1] A month previous, Smith was released from a psychiatric ward to where he was committed for several weeks, after an incident in which he threw a rock through a car window and swallowed approximately 250 aspirin tablets.^[2]

Smith was raised as in a series of foster homes as a ward of the state of Illinois due to neglect from his parents when he was five years old.^[3]

In January 2002, Smith was signed by the Atlanta Hawks for whom he played 14 games. His short stint with the Hawks involved being waived, signed back a second time, and eventually being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, for whom he never played. ^[4]

Late in the 2003-04 NBA season, the Seattle SuperSonics signed Smith to a contract,^[5] but he only played one game for them.