Jamar Smith (born April 7, 1987) is an American professional basketball player for Pallacanestro Reggiana of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA).

Illinois had just played in the NCAA National Championship game the previous March, and then lost junior guard Deron Williams to the NBA, so the natural shooter Smith seemed to be in a perfect position to step into a vacuum and become a team leader.

(See DUI Arrest) On December 30, 2008, after a nearly two-year absence from college basketball, Smith stepped onto the court as a member of the University of Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles.

Rusty skills, nerves and embarrassment over having to play while wearing an ankle monitor led to a slow start in his first game for USI, but Smith was soon back to his old form, leading his team to a #2 national ranking in Division II, and was given Honorable Mention Division II All-American, and finished the season averaging 18.5 points per game.

As a senior in 2010 Smith was named the Basketball Times Division II Player of the Year, with a career-high 21.6 points per game average.

On September 27, 2010, Smith was signed to a one-year unguaranteed minimum salary contract with the Boston Celtics, but was waived four days later.

On October 30, the Celtics assigned him to their NBA Development League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, where he was named to the D-League's All Rookie Second Team.

[22] On the night of February 12, 2007, Central Illinois experienced one of the biggest blizzards it had received in the previous ten years, dumping 15" of snow in the Champaign area, and making travel dangerous.

[23] At approximately 9 PM that night, Smith and Illini teammate Brian Carlwell, both age 19 at the time, began drinking at one of the apartments in the complex where they lived in the small town of Savoy, Illinois, about 10 minutes south of the Assembly Hall (now called State Farm Center), the University of Illinois basketball arena.

When authorities arrived, it turned out that Carlwell was not dead, but unconscious—he had suffered a severe concussion and was admitted to a local hospital where he was kept in an induced coma for four days after the accident.

Amateur photos of the wrecked car Smith was driving were posted contemporaneously by the administrator of a major Illinois basketball discussion forum.

[25] Carlwell, a 6'10" freshman reserve center for the Illini, rejoined the team a week later, but did not play in any of the final eight games of the season.

Partly because Smith had no prior criminal record of any kind, he received a relatively light sentence—15 days in jail, an $850 fine, two years probation, and 75 hours community service.

He was not arrested at that time but a few days later, the Champaign County States Attorney, Julia Reitz, asked a judge to revoke Smith's probation.