NBA Champion J.R. Smith Set To Graduate From North Carolina A&T
Former NBA champion J. R. Smith is graduating from North Carolina A&T State University with a liberal studies degree and has big plans in store.
Black News 
From a two-time NBA champion to a college graduate.
Former NBA player J.R. Smith has earned his college degree in liberal studies and will be walking across the stage at North Carolina A&T this weekend.
And he’s not stopping at his bachelor’s degree; he’s ready to start “stacking” them and has plans to get right back into the classroom to earn his master’s.
“I want to continuously get better at understanding and being a person of higher intellect,” Smith tells ESPN.
And with all this newfound knowledge, Smith wants to stick around his newfound alma mater and become North Carolina A&T’s next athletic director. His dream might come to fruition sooner rather than later because the school’s current director, Earl Hilton III, who has held the job for 15 years, will step down at the end of the summer.
“I feel like I got a lot of knowledge in the games or in the sports and how to build really good teams,” Smith said. “I want to see the youth graduate. I want to see these young kids prosper and be amazing people. I think there’s so many intelligent minds there.”
Smith’s love for the state of North Carolina started in 2004 when he initially committed to UNC before skipping college and heading straight to the league.
But after retiring, the state felt like home, so he knew he wanted to return, andhis love of golf ushered it inf.
During a golfing trip in the Dominican Republic with Ray Allen, Allen was focused on his studies, and convinced him to “go back to school and challenge yourself for us athletes. I really took heed to it and decided to go back — and one of the best liberal studies programs is at A&T.”
That sparked the idea, but during another golf outing with Chris Paul’s brother, CJ, he suggested Smith go back and play golf. So he did, but it didn’t come without its own challenges since he was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD as a kid. It made traditional learning difficult and left him too insecure to apply himself until he took a new approach.
“I didn’t realize how the brain is actually a muscle and the more you work it out, the stronger it’s going to get,” Smith said. “And for me, because it was so hard, I just gravitated a little to what was easier for me.”
Now, five years after enrolling and plenty of long study sessions with tutors, he’s earned it.
