BRADEN SMITH IS SHORT.
Not while he walks around Purdue’s campus, of course — he’s listed, perhaps generously, at 6 feet. But as a potential NBA prospect? Purdue’s leading point guard is short. He knows it, his opponents know it and NBA scouts know it.
He was undersized as an unranked high school recruit whose most likely destination until the Boilermakers extended a scholarship offer was Belmont.
“That’s all it’s ever been for me, is doubt and people saying I can’t,” Smith told ESPN. “Well, look where I’m at now compared to where I was when I got here.”
On the heels of a consensus first-team All-America season, Smith is the national Player of the Year favorite on the No. 2 team looking to win its first national title. He also has the chance to become the NCAA’s all-time assists leader, and potentially crack the first round of the 2026 NBA draft. That’s a tall order in a league that has averaged 6-7 in height for all but five of the past 46 seasons.
The discussion about the importance of size grew in stature over the summer when Kevin Durant appeared on the podcast, “Mind the Game” hosted by LeBron James and Steve Nash, and said that it’s hard to find too many key roles in the NBA for the majority of smaller guards.
“I don’t know if the 6-2 and under guard is at a premium no more, as a starter. Maybe as a backup,” Durant said. “If you’re 6-foot, 6-1 and you’re not a bulldog like a Davion Mitchell … on the defensive side, or you’re not an offensive flat-out savant like Kyrie [Irving] where you can score on dudes [that are] 7-feet easily in iso, I just can’t see it.”
The numbers back up Durant’s assertion.
The last player under 6 feet to be selected in the first round of the NBA draft was Shane Larkin in 2013; he was out of the league three years later.
In the past 10 NBA drafts, only two players shorter than 6-foot — Carsen Edwards and Tremont Waters in the second round in 2019 — and only two players 6 feet tall — Mitchell (2021) and Aaron Holiday (2018), both in the first round — have been selected. The latter two are considered dogged defensive players and still in the league, but there is only one player currently on an NBA contract shorter than 6 feet (Jordan McLaughlin, who is 5-11).
For Smith to improve his standing in the upcoming draft class — he debuted at No. 33 on ESPN’s NBA draft big board — he will have to have a season so undeniable, teams will want to take a chance on his size.
“I think there’s guys that were drafted in the lottery that I’m better than and that I’ve, no offense, but I’ve proven to be better than. And I’ve done that and I’ve kept doing it,” Smith said.
In the meantime, he is focused on Purdue. Delivering the Boilermakers’ first national championship could go a long way toward proving himself — again.
“What matters is at the end of the year,” Smith said. “What matters to me is being the team that wins the national championship at Purdue. … I would rather win the national championship and I would give up everything else just to win.”
DESPITE BEING AN underrecruited freshman, coming off a high school season in which he suffered a fracture in his left foot, Smith was immediately thrown into the fire when he arrived in West Lafayette, Indiana. Coach Matt Painter handed him the ball from day one and told him to run the show.
“That’s literally everything in my career. Just having a coach that trusts you,” Smith said. “Having somebody that trusts you like that and is willing to put his confidence in you to go out and make mistakes, go out and kind of struggle in a sense. … I really don’t think I would be here and be the player I am today without that.”
Smith, alongside fellow freshman Fletcher Loyer, was in Purdue’s starting lineup for its Nov. 8, 2022 game against Milwaukee. He has started all 111 games since. Painter stuck with him through the ups and downs of his freshman season, most notably his outing in the historic loss to 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the 2023 NCAA tournament, when Smith went 2-for-10 from the field with seven turnovers.
It has worked out for everyone. Purdue earned a 1-seed in Smith’s freshman and sophomore seasons, losing only 11 games in the span and making a run to the national title game in the latter. Including nabbing the top spot in the 2025-26 preseason AP Top 25, the Boilermakers have been ranked No. 1 in three of Smith’s four seasons. They lost that billing to Houston after opening week, but 13 of their 14 weeks at the top of the poll in program history have come with Smith on the roster.
“He saw us stay with him when he struggled, but he gave us the best chance to win even when he struggled,” Painter said.