Steve Smith (basketball)

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Steven (Steve) Delano Smith (born March 31, 1969, in Highland Park, Michigan) is an American retired National Basketball Association player.

He played with several teams in his 14 year career, including the Miami Heat, the Portland Trail Blazers and the San Antonio Spurs, but is perhaps best known for his five-year stint with the Atlanta Hawks which included an All-Star Game appearance in 1998. He won a championship with the Spurs in 2003.

Men's Basketball
Olympic medal record
Gold	Sydney 2000	United States

Smith was widely regarded as an excellent three-point shooter and an experienced veteran and won a World Championship in 1994 and an Olympic gold medal with the Olympic USA basketball team in 2000 at Sydney.

Smith was selected fifth overall in the 1991 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat for whom he played for three seasons before being traded two games into the 1994-95 season to the Atlanta Hawks. He spent five seasons with the Hawks before being traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Jim Jackson and Isaiah Rider.

He was traded to San Antonio for Derek Anderson in the offseason of 2001. He won an NBA title with the Spurs before signing as a free agent with the New Orleans Hornets in 2003 where he played for one season. He began the 2004-05 season with the newly-formed Charlotte Bobcats, but was re-acquired by the Heat at the February 24, 2005 trade deadline in exchange for Malik Allen. He announced his retirement at the end of that season.^[1]

Smith is also well known for his many charitable pursuits, including a USD $2.5 million gift to his alma mater, Michigan State University. Smith's donation helped to fund the Clara Bell Smith Student Athletic Center, which is named for his mother. At the time, this was the largest single donation by a professional athlete to their alma mater in history. In recognition for his generosity, during the 1997-98 NBA season, Smith received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, and in 2001-02 received the Joe Dumars Sportsmanship Award.

He holds career averages of 14.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game while shooting 35.8 percent from behind the three-point line. He also holds the Hawks single game record for 3 pointers with 9.

He is currently an announcer on Atlanta Hawks games with Bob Rathbun.