Let’s face it: Jalen Smith hasn’t had the career start the Phoenix Suns were hoping for when they selected him #10 overall in the 2020 draft. He’s barely seen the floor in meaningful games, ranking 42nd out of the 60 players in that draft for career minutes to date. The only other first round pick to play fewer minutes so far is #27 selection Udoka Azubuike. So...that’s not great.
While he has some tantalizing projectable skills, the 21 year-old second year man is a potential disaster defending in space, and hasn’t yet shown he can consistently generate the offense to offset that weakness.