re: Great analysis of the Maason Smith situation and NCAA incompetence

It was supposedly two weeks prior to that ruling.

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The US Supreme Court ruled athletes had the right to profit from their NIL on June 21st 2021.

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This is factually incorrect. The USSC has never issued a ruling on a student-athletes right to profit from their NIL because said issue has never been placed before the Supreme Court. The Alston ruling to which you reference was a concurrence with a lower court finding that the NCAA rules limiting educational related compensation, which in no way, shape or form includes NIL, for student-athletes violated provisions of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The NCAA created its own NIL rules, which loosened the limitations on non-educational related compensation for student-athletes, on its own accord. Granted, the NCAA saw the writing on the wall that its limitation of non-educational compensation for student-athletes was ripe for future additional litigation, it acted on its own creating the NIL rules and setting a effective date for these rules.

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How can Smith be punished for selling autographs in July of that year?

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Because the incident in question happened before the effective date (July 1, 2021).

The following is directly quoted from the Harvard Law Review analysis of the case NCAA v Alston in the very first paragraph:

"in NCAA v. Alston,
5. 141 S. Ct. 2141 (2021).
the Supreme Court upheld a district court ruling that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules limiting education-related compensation violated section 1 of the Sherman Act.
6. See id. at 2151–52, 2166.
Shortly after the Court’s decision, the NCAA voted of its own accord to allow a student athlete to receive compensation in exchange for use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL).
7. The Alston holding did not compel the NCAA’s NIL decision because the ruling left the NCAA’s rules limiting compensation unrelated to education undisturbed. See id. at 2165.
Even after this series of changes, the NCAA still restricts the compensation that schools can provide directly to their athletes unrelated to education."

Alston case had nothing to do with NIL, the ruling in Alston was pertaining to the NCAA limiting education related compensation. Now, the NCAA saw the writing on the wall and passed their own NIL rules with an effective date. Any violation of the rules prior to the effective date of the New (at the time) NIL rules would still be a violation of the rules that were in effect at the time of said violation.

As a courtesy, below is a link to the Harvard Law Review of the Alston Decision for your reading pleasure.

HLR Analysis of Alston