Ex-NBAer turned college golfer JR Smith named North Carolina A&T’s Academic Athlete of the Year

Who wants 3s when you may rating a 4.0? Within the fall of 2021, 16-year NBA veteran JR Smith enrolled at North Carolina A&T State College and joined the golf staff as a walk-on. Now, in his second semester on the HBCU, the two-time NBA champion is already incomes accolades within the classroom.

On Monday, the 36-year-old — who was initially slated to play basketball at North Carolina earlier than leaping from St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, New Jersey, to the NBA draft in 2004 — was named the Aggies’ Tutorial Athlete of the Yr.

The information comes every week after attire model Lululemon signed Smith to be its golf ambassador via a reputation, picture and likeness deal. The athlete identified to hoops followers as “JR Swish” is the primary male golfer to signal a model ambassador take care of Lululemon.

In January, Smith signed with Excel Sports activities Administration for NIL illustration. On the time, Smith’s agent, Lance Younger, instructed ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that there was excessive curiosity from golf attire and gear producers in sponsoring the enormously well-liked (6.2 million followers on Instagram alone) faculty athlete.

Smith first revealed that he was excelling within the classroom on the finish of the autumn semester. On Dec. 14, Smith took to social media to share he had achieved his purpose of incomes a 4.0 grade-point common.

In a video posted the identical day, Smith was clearly emotional. “I can not even describe the sensation,” he stated. “Numerous laborious work went into that s—.”

Smith — who received titles with LeBron James in 2016 as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers and in 2020 with the Los Angeles Lakers — credited a dialog with Basketball Corridor of Famer Ray Allen because the catalyst for his resolution to petition the NCAA to be eligible to play.

Someplace on the market, Jesus Shuttlesworth is beaming.