Auburn basketball: Former Tiger bows out of The Basketball Tournament
One less former Auburn basketball player will be playing for $1 million this month.
The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an annual event that pits teams against each other in a March Madness-style bracket in an effort to win a $1 million cash prize. One of the teams in the field this year is team War Tampa — a team of multiple former Auburn basketball players as well as other former college basketball players.
The team, which was was originally team “Tampa 20/20” changed its name earlier in the year due to the multiple former Tigers on the roster as well the positive feedback the team received from Auburn fans across the country.
As far as former Auburn players go, the team was originally supposed to feature Auburn’s all-time leading three-point shooter Bryce Brown, forward DeSean Murray and big men Horace Spencer and LaRon Smith.
However, with War Tampa scheduled to tip-off at 8 p.m. EST on July 4, one of those former Tigers shared some unfortunate news.
LaRon Smith, who played for the Tigers for one season (2016-17) as a grad transfer from Bethune-Cookman announced via his Twitter on Friday that he will no longer be participating in TBT due to his obligations of being a father.
For the uninformed, i will not be participating in #Tbt due to Daddy duty obligations 👶. But I’m excited to watch my guys play in a GM aspect. Helping put the team together, I’m excited to see how things unfold. @war_tampa fans are in for a TREAT 🔥🙌🏾🙏🏾 #BasketballisBack 🏀
— LaRon Smith (@LaR0n) July 3, 2020
In Smith’s one season with the Tigers, the 6-foot-8 shot-blocker struggled to get consistent playing time. In the 24 games he appeared in, Smith put up 2.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.0 block per game in 12.0 minutes a contest.
Smith was a fundamental part of helping get the three other former Auburn standouts on the roster and has been very vocal about his support of War Tampa and his former teammates. Along with the several former Tigers on the roster, multiple former players such as Mustapha Heron and Austin Wiley, Chuma Okeke, Marquis Daniels and many more have pledged their support for War Tampa
Prior to The Basketball Tournament, Smith, who is a member of the U.S. Virgin Islands National Team, was playing professionally in Argentina for Atenas where he teamed up with Horace Spencer.
War Tampa was designated as a 17 seed in the tournament and will play their first game against 16 seed House of ‘Paign on ESPN.