J.R. Smith doesn’t need a new contract from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He has his own retail venture to fall back on.
Okay, only half of that is true. Smith does have his own retail venture to help build his nest egg, but he could most definitely use the likely eight-figures-per-year contract the Cavaliers will inevitably sign him to.
Here’s the lowdown, per NBPA.com:
Long before J.R. Smith was putting in work on the basketball court, he was sweating through long days in the construction business—starting at around five years old. Working with his father, Earl, a mason contractor, Smith assisted on everything from senior citizen homes to Best Buy and Sports Authority locations—up until he was around 17 years old.
Now, starting with a vision that father and son had together years ago, Smith will be opening his own Team Swish lifestyle store, which is slated for the end of the month. The store, which Earl himself began building five years ago, features apparel, footwear and accessories, one of which is Smith’s upcoming signature backpack with Sprayground.
“The store is very special,” Earl told the NBPA. “It’s a long time coming. It’s been 15 years since I’ve been working on this project here. And then with J.R. winning a championship, everything came full circle.”
This is really, really, ridiculously dope. You can bet the apparel at Team Swish is going to be lit. The upcoming signature backpack had me at “Sprayground.”
Even cooler is the progression of Smith as a player and person. Being traded to the Cavaliers sort of put him in his place. He was no longer this long-two-chucking isolation specialist, because he couldn’t be. Playing beside LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love has forced him into a reserve role, as a spot-up shooter, and as someone who can increase his playing time and value by working his ass off on the defensive end–which he did for most of 2015-16.
The anecdotes that continue to trickle out from his personal life, meanwhile, are pretty surreal. Nearly gone is the image of a party-goer and playboy wannabe. It has instead been replaced by one of a doting father and enthusiastic husband—of a self-aware adult who is aware of his basketball mortality and is ready to capitalize on and appreciate all the time in the spotlight that he has left.
Granted, Smith is still the guy who sprayed $23,000 worth of champagne during the Cavaliers’ championship celebration. But even that story comes off as endearing given the complete 180 Smith has done—an about-face, make no mistake, that only he could have made.
