J.R. Smith will not be sporting Boston Celtics green next season–not unless he wears a leprechaun suit to a St. Patrick’s Day rave, anyway.
We knew this already, of course. Smith remains an unsigned free agent, but even with the regular season drawing closer, his future still very clearly lies with the reigning NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, however, cited the Celtics has a team that was keeping tabs on Smith. But Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald says that interest is overstated, if nonexistent:
There is nothing to any rumors that the Celtics will wind up with free agent J.R. Smith. But they did speak to him last July. At that time, the C’s learned that Smith’s desire was to stay with Cleveland.
Even if he were deemed a fit now, the Celts would have to do too much roster gymnastics to make it work.
This is all a moot point. The Celtics wouldn’t be able to land Smith even if they were super interested. His asking price appears to be around $15 million per year, and the Celtics don’t have that kind of financial flexibility. They also don’t have an open roster spot. There are 16 guaranteed contracts on their docket, and the maximum the NBA allows you to carry is 15.
So before Boston could even sign Smith, they would need to dump at least two players, one of them being Amir Johnson and his $12 million salary. If they didn’t want to get rid of him, it would take even more than two players, since the Celtics basically need to cobble together a $15 million offer from scractch.
Anyway, never mind the salary-cap and roster gymnastics involved. It doesn’t matter. Smith won’t be playing for the Celtics or any other team that isn’t the Cavaliers next season.
