Opening night for the 2016-17 NBA season is less than three weeks away, and yet J.R. Smith remains unsigned.
The oft-erratic shooting guard morphed into a reliable force for the reigning champion Cleveland Cavaliers last season, and, as a friend of LeBron James, it would seem he’s destined to stay put, even with the length of his unofficial unemployment reaching an uncomfortable level.
Though, to be fair, this isn’t new for the Cavaliers. They waited until the very last minute to re-sign restricted free agent Tristan Thompson last year. They are no stranger to swooping in and ironing out an agreement just before the regular season tips off.
Still, it’s weird. Smith will never be a star, but he played harder on defense down the stretch last season, and his spot-up shooting is a lethal weapon when playing beside running mates like Kyrie Irving and James. You would think he’d rank higher on Cleveland’s list of priorities.
To that end, Smith’s return to the Cavaliers isn’t the surest of things. Other teams have interest in his services, including the Boston Celtics, according to the New York Daily News‘ Frank Isola:
It is likely that Smith, a one-time Sixth Man of the Year with the Knicks, will re-sign with Cleveland but there are several teams that have interest in the shooting guard. One team is the Boston Celtics, whose second unit could certainly use a little scoring punch.
Barring a trade to clear cap space, the Celtics have approximately $9 million to sign Smith. He’s looking for a bigger payday, somewhere in the $15 million per season range. The Cavs are currently offering between $10 and $11 million annually. The Celtics would have to get close to $15 million for Smith to want to leave Cleveland to be a back-up to Avery Bradley.
A Celtics-Smith union is beyond unlikely. They already have 16 guaranteed contracts on the docket, so they need to shed two players while opening up at least another $6 or $7 million in additional spending power. Unless they plan on offloading one of Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebko, plus another contract, without taking back any money in return, their chances of landing Smith are moot.
Only three teams, in fact, can meet Smith’s purported asking price, not including the Cavaliers: the Brooklyn Nets, the Philadelphia 76ers and maybe the Denver Nuggets. With the market for him so thin by default, then, there remains no real scenario in which he leaves Cleveland before next season.
