'He loves Fayetteville': NBA's Dennis Smith Jr. returns home to host basketball camp

One by one, kids stopped to take a photo and share a moment with Dennis Smith Jr. on Wednesday morning inside the gym at E.E. Smith High School. 

Eleven-year-old Carter Edge, 12-year-old Zion Wells and Brenton Basnight – who celebrated his 11th birthday Tuesday – were among the roughly 100 campers waiting to get a glimpse of Smith, the Fayetteville native who just completed his fifth season in the NBA. 

Each camper received a signed basketball, T-shirt and drawstring bag at Smith’s inaugural Smithway youth camp. For Edge, the experience showed what’s possible for a kid growing up in Fayetteville. 

“I think it’s pretty inspirational,” Edge said. “It can inspire us to want to go to the NBA and we can come back to where we came from and just help out the community.” 

Everyone got to sharpen their ball handling skills and defensive fundamentals, but the chance to chat with Smith was the lasting memory.

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“Overall, it was just a good experience meeting a famous NBA player,” Wells said. “. … He inspires me to keep going.” 

“When he does this, he shows other people that come in that they can do the same thing,” Basnight added. 

As a fourth-grader, Smith had a similar experience when he got the chance to meet players from the And1 mixtapes. 

“You always cherish those kinds of moments,” Smith said. “For me to be able to come back home and the kids being able to see me, speak and touch me, I think that’s major for them.” 

Smith, who was a star at Trinity Christian School before heading to N.C. State for one season, was the ninth overall pick by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2017 NBA Draft. He's played for the Mavericks, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons and Portland Trail Blazers.

As someone who went from Fayetteville to an NBA lottery pick, Smith wanted the campers to know they can accomplish the same thing. 

“I personally believe that seeing is believing,” he said. 

But Smith, 27, was a bit nervous about hosting his first camp in his hometown. 

“It’s a situation where you got a lot of kids looking up to me,” Smith said. “People that’s older are looking toward you to be an example and role model. I’m nervous, but I’m excited more than anything.” 

Fayetteville native Grant Bennett, founder of The Two-Six Project that assists youth in marginalized communities, teamed up with Smith to host this week’s free camp, which featured five hours of basketball instruction and games. 

Longtime friends, Bennett and Smith played AAU basketball together.

“Anyone who knows Dennis knows that he loves Fayetteville. Most importantly, he loves the kids. When the opportunity came about to work with him, we jumped right at it. I think it was just a combination of good timing and having someone like me – a friend – who has a nonprofit to bring everything together.” 

Dee Hardy, whose name is on the court at E.E. Smith, was among the volunteers. With nearly 40 years of coaching experience in Fayetteville, Hardy has seen more than 70 of her former players go on to have college careers. 

“Just to see Dennis grow up, he used to come through the gym all the time,” she said. 

“To see his success and to see him reach back and give back to young people, that’s such a blessing to everybody. I’m excited for that.” 

Even as he waits for his next opportunity as an NBA free agent, Smith already has plans to return to Fayetteville each summer to teach and inspire kids like Basnight, Edge and Wells. 

“This is the first camp,” Smith said, “but we’re gonna have a bunch of these from here on out.”

Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on Twitter.