The No. 1 point guard recruit in high school basketball has torn the ACL in his left knee. Dennis Smith Jr. suffered the injury a week ago in a semifinal game at Adidas Nations, and had surgery to repair the tendon on Friday.
5-star point guard Dennis Smith Jr. tears his ACL
The high school career of the top prep point guard in the country is finished.
Kelly Kline / adidas
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Smith is the No. 4 overall player in the class of 2016, according to ESPN. The 6’2 point guard is deciding between six schools: Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, NC State, Louisville and Wake Forest. There has been speculation that Smith and his grassroots teammate on Team Loaded NC, big man Bam Adebayo, could team up on NC State a year from now.
Smith is expected to spend 6-9 months recovering. His father told ESPN every school on his list is still after him despite the injury. He averaged 16 points, 7.6 assists and 6.2 rebounds in five games at Adidas Nations before the injury.
Smith, a North Carolina native, is a super-quick lead guard who can score from all over the floor. He’s ranked as the best of a strong class of point guards by both ESPN and Rivals.
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