OKLAHOMA CITY—Masked by the Vanderbilt jersey he dawns is a tattoo that’s hiding in plain sight; it’s red and has four numbers engraved in a line to spell out the No. 1000. On the surface, it looks like an effort from Miles to demonstrate self expression. Miles, though, wants you to know about the tattoo and every piece of its meaning for a different reason.
Miles and all of his senior year teammates at Robert E. Lee High School have the same tattoo–which symbolizes a basketball club they were a part of alongside Smith–around their left arms to honor their former teammate Jamari “Chop” Smith, who passed away on May 27, 2020 in a drowning incident.
The Vanderbilt guard says Smith was his best friend…