Hornets Sign Barford, Smith And Wilkins To Training Camp Roster

Charlotte Hornets President of Basketball Operations & General Manager Mitch Kupchak announced today that the team has signed guard Jaylen Barford and forwards Zach Smith and Isaiah Wilkins to the team’s training camp roster. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In two years at Arkansas, the 6-3 Barford averaged 15.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 28.3 minutes per game in 71 contests. An undrafted free agent, Barford recorded averages of 17.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steals in 35 games as a senior in 2017-18. The Jackson, Tennessee, native finished the season amongst the SEC leaders in the following categories: field goals made (first, 224), points scored (third, 628), points per game (third, 17.9), three-point field goals (fourth, 87) and field goal percentage (sixth, .470). As a junior, he averaged 12.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

Smith, an undrafted free agent from Texas Tech University, appeared in 117 career games over four years (2014-18). In 117 contests, he finished his collegiate career with averages of 8.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 28.7 minutes per game. The Plano, Texas native averaged 6.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.0 blocks in 23 games as a senior in 2017-18. Smith received All-Big 12 Honorable Mention for both of his final two seasons.

Wilkins was a four-year collegiate player at Virginia (2014-18) where he appeared in 132 career games, posting averages of 9.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 21.7 minutes per game. Wilkins recorded averages of 6.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.4 blocks as a senior in 2017-18. The Lilburn, Georgia, native was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and named to the All-ACC Defensive Team.