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Braden Smith is bound to the game of basketball like plaster is to drywall. If he’s not playing, he’s practicing. If he’s not practicing, he’s watching film. If he’s not watching film, he’s playing NBA 2K. If he’s not playing 2K, he’s watching YouTube highlights of Steve Nash and Jason Williams. And when he’s not doing any of those things, there’s a damn good chance that a basketball is involved.
Purdue’s star point guard and all-time assist leader is devoted to the game like a lot of people claim to be but few can actually prove. Pull up the Westfield, IN, native’s résumé and you’ll find an overwhelming amount of evidence that backs up the work that we can’t see. It tells the story of a three-star recruit who didn’t even meet head coach Matt Painter in person before he landed in West Lafayette, and went on to become the first Bob Cousy Award winner in Purdue basketball history.
“I watch basketball every single day, no matter what it is,” Braden says. “If I’m not practicing or playing something, I’m playing 2K, I’m watching it on YouTube, I’m literally doing something every single day with basketball. No matter the scene or wherever I’m at, it really doesn’t matter. I’m just constantly watching.”
Growing up, and still to this day, Braden meticulously studied the games of the former Sun’s MVP and the one history remembers as “White Chocolate.” The ways they’d whip the ball to teammates with equal amounts of ease and confidence were captivating. And for the past three seasons with the Boilermakers, he’s been conjuring his own type of wizardry. The 2024-25 Big Ten Player of the Year concluded his junior season with 15.8 points, 8.7 dimes, 4.5 boards and 2.2 steals per game. All while setting a new Big Ten single-season assist record.
It’s more than Nash’s and Williams’ flashy passes that Braden’s tapped into, though. It’s their leadership. How they carry themselves at the point guard position. How they gain the trust of their teammates. He’s combed through YouTube clips and documentaries like a seasoned record store crate digger, searching for nuggets of knowledge and tricks to add to his bag.
“But also just how creative they are offensively,” he elaborates. “Because obviously, at our size—I mean, they’re probably both taller than me—but you’ve got to be creative with scoring on the offensive end. And defensively, you have to be kind of a pest, in a sense, to make it at that level. So, just kind of watching them on both sides of the ball and just seeing how they compete every single day.”
The creativity that he exhibits in the black and gold is, in part, exclusive to him. But being creative like Braden Smith isn’t done by relying entirely on instincts. It’s being faced with adversity and being forced to overcome it through unique avenues. “You have to be very creative, just with everything you do,” Braden says.
He’s been pushed to engineer ways to guard taller, bigger defenders at his size. Ways to disrupt passing lanes without being detected in the peripheral. And with the ball in his hands, he’s actively surveying what the defense is giving him. Whether it’s seeing a double-team approach just after crossing halfcourt or watching defenders slip underneath ball screens, there’s innovation in how he gets to the cup and draws defenders to set up his teammates.
“I think the balance of choosing when to score and when not to, I mean, I’ve been yelled at. That’s one of the main things I’ve been yelled at [about] when I’ve been at Purdue,” Braden says. “They say I’m too unselfish and I pass the ball too much, and I should score more. But, I mean, to me, at the end of the day, I feel like my job is to get everybody involved.”
Much like the aforementioned head honchos that he studies, the 6-0 guard is a distributor at heart, no matter how much the Boilermaker fan base or coaching staff may beg for more buckets. But that’s not to say he can’t put up numbers when he needs to. Inside of our studio in NYC, Braden reminisces back to his freshman year at the Palestra, facing off against Penn State just eight days after the new year where he dropped 15 points and 7 assists in their 13-point win.
“I think that’s kind of when it clicked, understanding that, OK, well, you’ve got to go score but also get assists at the same time. So, it was actually a mixture of both during that game,” Braden says.
Next case study: the Boilermaker’s 2-point loss in the 2025 Sweet 16 against the No. 1 defense in the country. “I felt like the Houston game this year, my job wasn’t to score. My job was to get the ball out of my hands and get the ball to teammates for them to make shots. So, just putting my trust into them for that game, I felt like that kind of opened it up even more.”
While Houston’s bigs hard hedged every ball screen, Braden enacted a MasterClass in keeping the ball alive and splitting double-teams. A patient, coordinated attack ensued, where everyone inside of Lucas Oil Stadium witnessed No. 3 assist on every single point that Purdue scored in the second half, totaling 15 assists on the night.
Final case study: a 31-point barrage inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Fifteen points off threes alone. Eleven of 15 from the field. “But, then having a different game early on this past year at Iowa—shots weren’t falling for our guys. Passing, maybe, wasn’t working during that. So, being able to go out and score and figure out different ways to help the team win.”
For the past three years, Braden Smith has poured thousands of hours into the winning culture that extends from Cardinal Court to Mackey Arena. After helping Purdue reach the National Championship as a sophomore and the Sweet 16 as a junior, he could have hit the portal for a bag or seen some traction on draft boards. Instead, the Midwest-made All-American stayed home for his final season. He’s not the only one. Fletcher Loyer, Trey Kaufman-Renn, CJ Cox, Gicarri Harris and seven other players are returning.
“Chemistry is huge. And I think Purdue does an unbelievable job. It made my decision super easy to not leave and come back, because the people that I’m around, the coaching staff, the people, just everybody in general…I mean, it really was a fairly easy decision, but at the same time, chemistry, it starts in the summer. We start in June, so just understanding that we’re on the court or at least with each other every single day. It helps. Those two months help before the season actually gets going, and school starts up again, and you’re able to actually kick it on the on the court and compete together,” Braden says.
The past few months have been filled with the same consistency as years past. Daily repetition. As far as new additions to the repertoire, Smith has been working on extending his range even further. It’s not just about hitting more threes, though. He’s thinking ahead to the moments when the defender has to guard him even higher, and the trust he has in his speed to win the battle every time.
“Also, the mid-range game, just trying to perfect that every single day with bumps,” Braden says, on what he’s been working on this offseason. “I love watching Shai and his bump and his mid-range game, so I watch a lot of film on that and understand the different angles and different bumps to do off of that.”
The team as a whole is going as far as training like Navy SEALS for a weekend, spotted by students in mid-September, muddy and lugging timber logs through campus. At the front was Braden, with the log squarely placed on his shoulders, turning his head back to encourage his teammates.
His dedication to the game has brought national prominence, accolades and fueled admiration across the state. And while the Boilermakers may sit at No. 1 in numerous preseason polls, the chip that was carved in Westfield is as prominent as ever. If anything, it’s what’s led to the campaign that’s about to unfold.
“Proving people wrong, one, is just kind of something I’ve done my whole life. Obviously, with my size and just how basketball is these days, it’s a lot of taller people, just taller athletes, and really good basketball players. But, I think with my size, I’m able to do the same things as those types of players. And obviously, it doesn’t look the same because I’m not as tall or athletic, but I mean, you’ve gotta go out and figure it out if that’s what you really want, and you truly care for it,” Braden says. “And I think for this senior year, really, [we] just gotta get there—to the National Championship. I think that’s really it. I feel like we have the team to do so. I feel like we have the players to do so. So, I think the only thing for us, and to prove people wrong who maybe don’t have us going to that point, is to make it there.”
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