Smith Facing More Charges

Troubled NBA rookie Leon Smith is due back in a Chicago courtroom Monday on charges he vandalized a car belonging to his former girlfriend’s mother.

Smith, who attempted the jump from Chicago’s Martin Luther King High to the NBA this season, was charged Saturday with two counts of criminal damage to property and one count of violating an order of protection, both misdemeanors, police said.

Smith, 19, was arrested on the vandalism complaint Friday night, a day after he was charged with threatening his former girlfriend with a gun. Bond was set at $15,000 during Smith’s appearance in bond court Saturday, said Bob Benjamin, a spokesman for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.

He was released later Saturday after his high school coach reportedly posted the bond.

Smith’s legal troubles began Thursday when he was arrested after his former girlfriend complained he had threatened her with a gun outside Marshall High, where she is a student.

He was charged with aggravated assault, a misdemeanor, and released after posting $100 bail early Friday morning, police said. By late Friday evening, he was back in custody and spent a second night in police lockup.

The girlfriend’s mother obtained a restraining order forbidding Smith from having any contact with her daughter.

Smith was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in June. They immediately traded him to the Dallas Mavericks, where he signed a $1.4-million contract.

But he has yet to play a minute for the Mavericks. He is on the team’s injured list because of a back strain, but personal problems have plagued him for the last month.

He was arrested Nov. 14 and placed in a psychiatric ward after Dallas police found him overdosed on aspirin. He was charged with criminal mischief after he reportedly smashed the rear window of a friend’s sport utility vehicle.

Players union chief Billy Hunter said the union was working to “put together a program where we would pay somebody to stay with Leon to help him handle his personal affairs and help watch after him.”

But Hunter said he is worried Smith will reject the offer.

“We can’t help people against their will and people who are not willing to abide with the rules of the program,” he said.

Maverick Coach Don Nelson said Thursday he hoped Smith gets help for his problems. Maverick spokesman Greg Elkin said Friday the team would have no further comment.