NBA champion and Inside the NBA co-host Kenny Smith has married Croatian influencer Tia Jurcic at a ceremony in Newport Beach, California, the couple announced Tuesday.
The 41-year-old bride was pictured in a strapless white gown decorated with bows. The Queens-born groom, 61, wore a white tuxedo blazer with black pants.
Video from the ceremony showed the two families dancing together to music from both the United States and Croatia. As music from the bride's homeland played, Smith addressed the crowd.
"If you’re from America, we’re going to take you to Croatia right now," Smith told the crowd.
Conspicuously absent from the video clips were Smith's Inside the NBA co-hosts: 7ft 1in Shaquille O'Neal, 6ft 6in Charles Barkley and anchor Ernie Johnson. The Daily Mail has sought comment from representatives for O'Neal and Barkley to see if they attended the event.
Inside the NBA media rights and broadcasting
The quartet of friends and co-hosts are coming off their first NBA season on ESPN. TNT Sports, which continues to produce the studio show, lost domestic NBA rights in the latest media deal, but continues to license Inside the NBA to ESPN.
Smith joined TNT Sports in 1998 and consistently ranks alongside O'Neal and Barkley as one of the most popular sports TV analysts. He won a pair of NBA titles alongside Hakeem Olajuwon with the Houston Rockets, including the 1995 championship over O'Neal's Orlando Magic.
Previous marriages and family history
For Smith, the outdoor ceremony marked his third marriage. He was previously married to writer and director Dawn Reavis in the 1990s before a 12-year marriage to English model Gwendolyn Osborne that ended in 2018. Smith has four children of his own, not including a stepchild from a previous relationship.
Jurcic was previously married to former basketball player Chris Warren, according to the New York Post. Their son, Domenik, is a high school basketball prospect. Both Smith and Jurcic have children from their previous marriages.
Jurcic grew up in Croatia, a country that currently boasts around two dozen NBA players. Croatian basketball history includes Hall of Famers such as Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa and the late Dražen Petrović.