SPOKANE, Wash. — The countdown is on for Thursday's NBA Draft starting at 5 p.m. PT. Three Gonzaga Bulldogs are hoping to hear their name called out in Brooklyn, New York.
Sharp shooting guard, Malachi Smith, is one of them.
Smith was a guy that some expected to return to Gonzaga as mock drafts don't have him being drafted. For him, the decision to remain in the draft came down to having faith in his ability.
"I just felt like at some point, if you believe in yourself and you think you're good enough, you know, you can't just hold back that process," said Smith. "It's just going to hurt you, so I just really felt like I was ready to go prove myself."
Malachi Smith is attacking his dream head-on without certainty that he will hear his name called at the draft.
"Honestly, like, nothing's guaranteed, you know, this past year going into this year I was projected to get drafted, so anything can happen. There's players on the draft boards right now that are gonna go first round, that weren't on draft boards. It goes both ways," said Smith. "I just control what I can control and you know, I don't try to look too far ahead."
Regardless of the outcome, Smith is keeping everything in perspective.
"It can obviously be stressful because you don't know what's going to happen, you know, you want to perform at such a high level that you might put pressure on yourself, but you have to really sit back and reflect and be like how grateful you are that you're even doing this. You know, like, how many people have the chance to just get to work out for teams? So, throughout the stress you reflect and you're like, 'I get to have the chance to honestly chase my dreams," said Smith.
Whether he gets drafted or not, Malachi says in the end it doesn't guarantee anything.
"Look at the Miami Heat, half their team was undrafted. So being undrafted doesn't scare me, you know, at the end of the day, whether you get your name called or not, you have to put the work in. And you know, I always say the work is going to show," said Smith.
He has supreme faith in himself that everything will work out.
"We won't know till Thursday," said Smith. "I honestly just say wherever God's gonna put me is where I'm supposed to be."
"Just know that it's gonna be another Zag in the league," said Smith. "That's all I gotta say."
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: Search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.