Derrik Smits (born September 6, 1996) is a former American-born

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player of Dutch descent. Standing at , he played the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position. He is the son of former basketball player

Rik Smits Rik Smits (born 23 August 1966), nicknamed "the Dunking Dutchman" is a Dutch former professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The center was drafted by the ...

College career

Smits played for the

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana, United States. It is an independent Lutheran university with five colleges. It enrolls nearly 2,300 students and has a campus. The university is known for its Luthe ...

men's basketball team from 2016 to 2019. He was forced to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

the 2015–16 season due to an injury, and began playing the following season at Valparaiso. He averaged 7.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore. As a junior, Smits averaged 12.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, earning

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

All-Most Improved Team honors. He graduated from Valparaiso in December 2018, taking graduate-level courses in the 2019 spring term to maintain his basketball eligibility; his graduation made him immediately eligible to transfer. Smits played his final season of college eligibility in 2019–20 at

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

, choosing the Bulldogs over

North Carolina State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

and

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

. He averaged 3.1 points and 1.7 rebounds per game for the Bulldogs.

Professional career

Smits signed his first professional contract with

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

in Spain for the 2020–21 season. On November 16, he asked for the termination of his contract for personal reasons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smits, Derrik 1996 births Living people American men's basketball players Butler Bulldogs men's basketball players Centers (basketball) Dutch men's basketball players Valparaiso Beacons men's basketball players 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century Dutch sportsmen