J.R. Smith has fallen out of the rotation in Cleveland as the youth movement has begun for the Cavaliers in the post-LeBron era. The veteran shooting guard has been told his minutes are not guaranteed, and while he was offered the chance to take some time away from the team to process that if he needed, he’s decided to stay around.
That doesn’t mean he’s happy with the decision or that he wants to stay around long-term, but he’s just not going to take a sabbatical right now. Still, Smith wants to go somewhere that he can play and compete, and on Thursday he told reporters that he’d like to be traded by the Cavaliers.
This is not a surprise, but, JR Smith said he’d like to be traded from the Cavs
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) November 1, 2018
#Cavs JR Smith said he's hoping for a trade.
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) November 1, 2018
This comes as little surprise, and it wouldn’t be a shock if other Cavs veterans also request to be dealt out of Cleveland. The much harder part of the equation is finding a team that wants to bring Smith in and can make the salaries work, as Smith is set to make $14.7 million over the course of this season, meaning matching salary requires a team to have someone close to that on an expiring that is disposable. Smith has a non-guaranteed $15 million on his deal for next year, but a team can get out of that for about $3 million.
It will be interesting to see how the Cavs proceed, as Smith and other veterans are likely on the trade block. While Smith is making his desire to be moved known now, it might take until closer to the deadline, when teams know if they’re contenders or not and feel more need to acquire shooting help, for Cleveland to get real traction on talks.
