Education
Smith attended the University of Louisville from 1979 to 1982.
Smith attended the University of Louisville from 1979 to 1982.
He would later become an assistant coach for the Washington Bullets from 1994 until his death. Smith is sometimes credited with popularizing the term "high five" during the 1979-1980 basketball season. Smith was selected 35th overall, 13th in the second round, by the Golden State Warriors in the 1982 National Basketball Association Draft.
He played for the Los Angeles Clippers from 1983 to 1986.
He averaged 22 points per game in 1984-1985. In the next season, he averaged 23.5 points per game, but was limited to 11 games because of a knee injury followed by mononucleosis.
He played for the Sacramento Kings from 1986–1989, for the Philadelphia 76ers in 1989 and 1990, and the Boston Celtics in 1991. During his National Basketball Association career he scored over 5,000 points.
Smith became an assistant coach for the Washington Bullets in 1994.
In August 1996, Smith went on a cruise on the Norwegian Cruise Lincolnshire ship Mississippi Dreamward for season ticketholders of the Bullets and the Washington Capitals. He took his family along. Smith and then-Bullets player Tim Legler volunteered to hold basketball clinics during the cruise.
Ship medics attempted to resuscitate him for 25 minutes before declaring him dead.
Smith was buried at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky. His funeral was attended by the Bullets team and several former teammates.
Nolan played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils and was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers. Nolan has a tattoo of his father on his right arm.
On August 9, 1996, while the ship was near Bermuda and returning to New York City, Derek Smith suddenly suffered an apparent massive heart attack during a farewall cocktail party in the presence of members of his team