ESPN.com
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8th May 2026
Two-time NBA champ J.R. Smith earns college degree at age 40
When two-time NBA champion J.R. Smith puts on his cap and gown Saturday to walk the graduation stage at North Carolina A&T, his steps will mark the end of a goal he has pursued for years -- to conquer a fear of education and earn his college degree. The moment also will spark the question nearly every college graduate hears: What's next?
For Smith, graduation signals another beginning. He told ESPN he is working on "stacking" degrees, with his sights set on earning a master's next.
"I want to continuously get better at understanding and being a person of higher intellect," Smith said.
He said his goal is to become athletic director at North Carolina A&T. The job has been held by Earl Hilton III for 15 years. The university announced in April that Hilton will step down this summer at the end of his contract. A national firm is conducting a search for his replacement.
"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, now 40, built a name swishing deep 3-pointers and slamming dunks with an uber-confident playing style. It earned him two championship rings across a 16-year playing career with six different NBA teams. In 2021, he hit the books, enrolling at NC A&T and majoring in liberal studies: applied cultural thought.
He spent hours with tutors three times a week to complete his assignments. His efficiency improved enough to eventually turn them in early. There were sleepless nights to submit assignments and papers, down to finals week.
He also walked on to the men's golf team, which made headlines at the time, though golf was "secondary" for Smith, said Richard Watkins, the school's recently retired golf coach.
"He came to school to graduate," Watkins told ESPN.
And Smith prevailed. Five years after enrolling, he overcame his fear of education -- rooted in being diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia as a child -- to earn his degree and prove to himself and the world that he's capable of more than just basketball. Former teammates such as LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Richard Jefferson are among the many players who have have sent congratulations.
Smith wants his journey to show others they can do the same.
"I hope it inspires them to be more well-rounded as a person and not just as an athlete. I think being an athlete is just [an] attribute that you have," Smith said. "You're still a person at the end of the day and you can get better in all areas and facets."
SMITH SAID HE was inspired to attend college by another former NBA sharpshooter, Ray Allen.
While golfing together, Smith noticed Allen going back and forth to his computer to work on his degree. Smith, who entered the NBA in 2004 out of high school, wanted to do the same.
"Ray Allen kind of convinced me," Smith said in 2021. "We had a little golf trip in [the Dominican Republic] and he was talking about some of the things he was doing, about going back to school and challenging 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."
Other athletes have completed college degrees later in life. At 82 years old, tennis legend Billie Jean King is graduating this year. Michael Jordan, Stephen Curry and Shaquille O'Neal are among others in the NBA to complete college education in their later years.
They weren't student-athletes at the time, though.
During a golf session with C.J. Paul, the brother of recently retired NBA star Chris Paul, C.J. told Smith: "Man, you're pretty good. Why don't you go back and play college golf?" Smith initially took it as a joke. Paul, who grew up in North Carolina, was serious. He called Watkins about Smith potentially walking on the team.
"Needless to say, you're always looking for individuals that can help your sports team," Watkins said. "And that's just kind of the way it moved forward."
Before declaring for the NBA draft in 2004, Smith committed to North Carolina. He changed course, but it played a role in his decision to attend North Carolina A&T.
He has gravitated toward the state, which he said felt like home, though he grew up in New Jersey. The school's size stood out to Smith on his visit; North Carolina A&T had the largest enrollment of any historically Black college or university with 15,275 students in fall 2025.
But something stuck with Smith the most: He felt supported.
"I first got there, it just seemed like home. It just seemed like so many people who really wanted to see me do well and succeed," he said. "It felt like impossible to fail."
That type of support is crucial for any student, but especially in Smith's case.
From a young age, he said, he felt insecure with academics, knowing he wasn't like other students when it came to classwork. Diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD around age 8 or 9, he said taking in a lot of information was a challenge. He described his reading as "terrible," and tasks such as reading out loud or public speaking didn't come as easily or quickly as they did for his peers.
That, he said, led to a lack of confidence. He shied away from schoolwork and rapidly excelled at sports, part of masking the challenges he was having in the classroom.
"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."
He faced those struggles head-on when he resumed his education.
Watkins said Smith spent "a lot of time" in the center for academic excellence. Smith said getting started was the hardest step, but that proved to be most important to conquering his insecurities.
He worked with two tutors, typically meeting with them on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for about four or five hours per session. Once the schedule solidified and he could commit to it, everything became easier.
Smith often posted about his school experience on social media, with one post emphasizing his commitment to the grind.
Hopping on videoconference meetings and breaking down assignments became part of the process. Six hours would pass without him realizing it. He remembers feeling fatigued at the end of those sessions, something unfamiliar to him when it came to school.
"It was kind of like working out," he said. "I literally had to build it day by day and stay consistent with it obviously."
Smith said he picked his major because he wanted to learn how to think efficiently. According to his major's description, the cultural studies concentration "gives students a background in how cultures and societies work and the ways they change."
One of his favorite classes was "African-American Culture through Sports." He learned things from a different perspective, and it offered insight that he gravitated toward.
"I wish I could start over as a rookie now knowing what I know now," he said. "Just the level of appreciation of the people who came before you and how you really want to impact the world and the game and how you want to leave it. It just meant so much more."
He also selected that major because he wanted to look at things from another person's understanding. It's no surprise the class became his favorite.
Growing up, Smith said he had a narrower perspective. He wanted to broaden it.
"It was very directed to where my opinion is right, and this is what I feel, and this is what it is," he said. "And even not having facts or basics on it. So for me, I felt like that was extremely important. I guess at the end of the day, it's empathy. Being able to empathize for other cultures and other people's perspectives without compromising your own."
His classes were mostly online, and he lived off campus or in a hotel for his freshman year. He moved to Florida the following year before going to Texas. As a result, he traveled back and forth to campus.
Mixed in all of this was golf. Smith walked on the team in 2021 and qualified for seven tournaments across four years. He fit in "great" with teammates, Watkins said. Smith even fulfilled freshman duties such as bringing sports drinks and carrying bags.
"It was funny, man," Smith said. "I laughed at it cause it was starting all over."
Still, Smith didn't deviate from his original goal: to get his degree.
Watkins, who retired in 2023, worked in higher education for 45 years and served as an advisor for student-athletes at the school. Nontraditional students who returned later in life overwhelmingly proved successful, he said, because they were on a mission.
A lot of people asked Watkins: "What's J.R. coming back to school for?" From Watkins' perspective, he knew Smith would succeed because he was doing it for himself.
"One of the things that I always thought about was J.R., just from a standpoint of being an advisor and working with academics and athletes," Watkins said. "I just always felt like he was going to be successful and that at some point in time he would reach his goal that he'll walk across the stage."
WITH A DIPLOMA in hand, Smith said that in the short term, he would take some time off and relax with his family. He and his partner, actor Candice Patton, welcomed a baby boy in September 2024.
Golf will fit in the equation, too. Smith said he hopes to help make it a more inclusive sport.
As for the North Carolina A&T athletic director position, Smith said: "Man, I want to be the AD at A&T. I want to be an overseer of sports in college and try to bring some championships to Greensboro."
The university began a national search after announcing Hilton's departure in April and has said Hilton would remain in the role "until a successor is identified and seated."
A job description for the position describes the university as "the nation's largest HBCU and a rising national powerhouse in Division I athletics," and says the university "seeks a visionary, nationally respected leader to serve as its next Director of Intercollegiate Athletics (Chief Athletics Officer)."
In a statement to ESPN, the university said the athletic director is a member of the chancellor's cabinet, so hiring decisions at that level are made by the school's chancellor, who "will be given plenty of input throughout the search by others involved in the process."
Chancellor James R. Martin II said in a statement to ESPN that Smith "has shown the world what lifelong learning is all about."
"J.R. shows what college can look like in our 30s and 40s as we all participate in an economy in which the average American will hold about 12 different jobs over their lifetime," Martin said. "I'm among a great many who are looking forward to watching J.R. cross the stage and receive his diploma this weekend. He has certainly earned it."
There is no timeline on the search for a new athletic director, but university officials said they expect to begin initial interviews in the next several weeks.
As this chapter of Smith's life closes, one of his biggest hopes is that other people can strive to overcome their own fears.
"I think that's the biggest thing. Stepping outside the box and doing something that you're not good at," he said. "You want to be a well-rounded individual. I think you've got to tap in to that and overcome and conquer those insecurities as a person. And the only way you do that is face it head-on."
