Javante Smart Returning to LSU

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Javonte Smart withdraws from NBA Draft, returns to LSU

Updated May 18, 8:24 PM; Posted May 18, 8:10 PM

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JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - MARCH 23: Javonte Smart #1 of the LSU Tigers celebrates their 69-67 win over the Maryland Terrapins in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vystar Memorial Arena on March 23, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

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By Amie Just, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

LSU guard Javonte Smart will return to the Tiger basketball program for the 2019-20 season, he announced via Instagram on Saturday (May 19) evening.

Smart, a Baton Rouge native, was one of six Tigers who declared for the NBA Draft following LSU’s historic season.

Smart is the first LSU player who declared for the NBA Draft to announce a return to school.

LSU’s Naz Reid and Tremont Waters will be staying in the NBA Draft, while Skylar Mays, Marlon Taylor and Emmitt Williams have yet to announce their respective decisions.

Smart had an up and down freshman season with the Tigers. He started in 18 of LSU’s 35 games, averaging 11.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.

Smart’s season-high outing of 29 points came in LSU’s game against Tennessee. Smart filled in for an ill Tremont Waters and earned his first start since Dec. 28, 2018, against Louisiana-Monroe. Smart’s season low on the year was against Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen, where he scored zero points in 25 minutes of play.

Smart missed just one game during his freshman year: LSU’s regular season finale against Vanderbilt.

LSU sidelined him for that game on March 9 following media reports alleging that Will Wade compensated Smart during his recruitment in 2017.

The Yahoo and ESPN reports detail a 2017 phone conversation between Wade and former Adidas consultant Christian Dawkins, recorded by the FBI, that included Wade openly speaking about a “strong-ass offer” he made in Smart’s recruitment.

Because of the reports, the NCAA was involved in an inquiry into Smart. Smart was held out of LSU’s regular-season finale against Vanderbilt, but was given the go ahead to play before LSU’s postseason slate began.

In another telephone call with Dawkins, according to ESPN, Wade joked that the player, again believed to be Smart, would be compensated more than the “rookie minimum.”

Wade told Dawkins that he had made deals for “as good of players as him” that were “a lot simpler than this.”

Smart was cleared to play less than two hours before LSU’s SEC Tournament game against Florida.

Smart played 31 minutes off the bench in LSU’s quarterfinal loss to Florida, scoring 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting to extend his double-figure scoring streak to five straight games — dating back to his lowly four-point game in LSU’s first game against Florida in late February.

After that game, he was one of the two LSU players chosen to face the media at the press conference, taking a line of questioning only directed to the reported wiretaps or the investigation.

“No, sir, I have nothing to do with that,” Smart said when asked if he knew of the “offer” that Wade reportedly made in Smart’s recruitment.

But from there, his output decreasingly diminished.

He had nine points against Yale and Maryland and then zero points against Michigan State.