J.R. Smith has yet to ink a contract with any NBA team. The front runners are his championship winning squad from last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers. He and the Cavs are reportedly far apart in their contract discussions. Yet despite J.R.’s best option being a return to the Cavs, it appears there’s another team that might be interested in his services.
The Boston Celtics were a team that won big this offseason, most notably due to their signing of big man Al Horford. The C’s roster is currently full and they actually have a tough decision coming up concerning who should be the last player they cut. The decision might be a little bit harder if they decide to bring Smith into the fold.
Following from Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
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 (an) 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.
As Isola points out, it would be particularly difficult for the Celtics to make room to sign Smith, unless J.R. goes back on his reported interests. If J.R. would join the C’s, then he would add an explosive scorer coming off the bench and add another weapon to an already dangerous team looking to dethrone The King and his Cavaliers.
For now, just chalk it up as a leverage play from a representative with Smith. We’ve heard something similar about the C’s and Smith having shared interest in the past but if Smith is confident about wanting his money, then don’t expect him to leave Cleveland. Unless a contender makes a move to clear up some space to sign him.
Plus, I really doubt Jae Crowder would welcome J.R. Smith with open arms.
