6:49pm: The public trade talk is intended to scare Smith into cleaning up his act, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). According to Wojnarowski, the club understands there isn’t a market for Smith.
5:39pm: New York began exploring potential Smith trades as long as two weeks ago, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Berger says the club is having a difficult time finding potential suitors, and Smith’s latest episode won’t help his perceived value. It sounds as if many league executives don’t look on Smith very highly; when asked about potential landing spots for the veteran guard, one GM replied to Berger, “I hear Shanghai has a spot.”
4:02pm: The Knicks have started to explore potential trade options involving J.R. Smith, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein and Ian Begley. The news comes on the heels of Smith’s latest incident, a $50K fine from the NBA for “recurring” unsportsmanlike conduct related to untying opponents’ shoes.
The Knicks have become increasingly frustrated with Smith’s on- and off-court transgressions, according to Stein and Begley, who hear from one source that the team is “fed up” with the shooting guard’s erratic behavior. Appearing on ESPN Radio in New York today, coach Mike Woodson called the latest episode in the Smith saga “unacceptable.”
“I’m not happy about this, because he was warned, he comes back and he makes the same mistake, and it’s not right,” Woodson said. “It’s just got to stop. I keep saying this every time something pops up, but it’s got to stop.”
Smith, last season’s Sixth Man of the Year, has also seen his production drop off this year. After sitting out the first five games of the season due to a drug violation, Smith has appeared in 29 contests, averaging 11.3 PPG with a .348 FG% and a 9.9 PER. The latter two marks are the worst of his 10-year career.
It’s not clear what sort of trade value, if any, Smith would have at the moment. At $5.57MM, he’s not as overpriced as some other players on the Knicks’ roster, but he’s under contract for three years, with his salary increasing to $5.98MM next season and $6.4MM on 2015/16’s player option. The 28-year-old could interest teams in need of one more scorer, but his off-court distractions and lengthy contract will limit his appeal. Grantland’s Zach Lowe tweets that New York is unlikely to acquire anything worthwhile for Smith unless they sweeten the deal, and as Lowe points out, the team doesn’t have many sweeteners to offer.
Unlike most free agents who signed last summer, Smith isn’t trade-eligible until January 15th, so if the Knicks make a move, it will have to come between next Wednesday and February 20th’s trade deadline.
Please trade him to sacremento for Marcus Thornton please it’s well worth it Marcus is a great gaurd very underrated
Trade him for anything….classic addition by subtraction.
trade jr and felton for jeff teague
why would the knicks do that?
O.k. Zoe how about Felton, Smith and first rounder for rondo
no, you cant just blow up the foundation for and injury prone used to be
you couldnt get Rondo for that if you dreamed about it…I’m trying to figure out if you are trolling
we couldn’t get him because the celts don’t know when to rebuild, look at how long they held on the the ”BIG THREE”
you couldnt get him b/c that package is terrible…if you sent Shumpert, Hardaway, and a 1st rounder (which would be all the way in 2018) then maybe you could get him from the Celtics. Otherwise, you have no shot at trading for Rondo. The Celtics are in much better shape than the Knicks right now towards contending. They have a core of Rondo, Bradley, Green, Sullinger, along with interesting pieces like Jordan Crawford, who is still young, and then they have a multitude of picks and expiring contracts. The Knicks have Melo, Shumpert, Hardaway, and Chandler. They cant do anything in free agency until at least 2015, and have no draft picks…
O.k., how about petro
why would atlanta do that?
they could have avoided this situation by…you know, not signing JR Smith this past ofseason…how did he not get fined for taking that shot with 22 seconds left against Houston when Melo was WIDE OPEN right next to him?
IDK whats wrong with the knicks but he is a great all around player,this is why they are a joke and any team that gets him will be thrilled with his energy, hustle and effort and his all around skill set
all around skill yes, the other 3 no. jr checks out of games and compounds things by making stupid mistakes. plus his all around skill rarely shows up consistantly from quarter to quarter let alone game to game.
I’m not even necessarily saying JR Smith is terrible. My issue is that he is being used as a 2nd option, which is ridiculous. You cant expect to win running isolation, especially when you are running isolation through JR Smith. The ball doesnt move enough for the Knicks and that was their issue last year, and it has carried over to this year in a big way. Running Isolation through Melo is understandable. Doing it with JR Smith on a consistent basis is just plain dumb. If he was a 4th option, coming off the bench, he would be way more valuable
Everyone wants to hate on JR maybe they are just mad cause they will never be an NBA allstar
he has all the talent in the world, but that has been said about JR Smith for almost 10 years now
I’ve always defended JR but hard to excuse a suspension for pot when you get three strikes and his abysmal performance this season.
what does pot have to do with it? its just a bit of bud…thats one thing JR Smith did that I will never stop defending. He did nothing wrong in that situation
there isn’t much wrong with pot imo, but unfortunately for him it is against the league rules. Whether or not that is right is a different discussion, but you get three strikes and if anything it displays the self-control and maturity level of Smith. You sign a 3 year, 20 mil contract you should be able to hold off for your teammates and the people who gave you that money.
C’mon Yo…Its the offseason. He just signed that contract and stole all that money from the Knicks that he wouldnt have got anywhere else. Celebration blunt…
Chris Smith? Thought you were in the D League.
the only guy I would trade jr for would be dirk nowitski if the mavs don’t think they can win it all anymore and dirk might leave
LOL
Who would want him and to be stuck with 3.5 more years of him? You have to be taking another bad or lengthy contract back in this situation if you’re the Knicks.
What’s out there? Sacramento for Jason Thompson or Carl Landry?
UGH…Imagine a team with JR Smith and Rudy Gay as their wings? So bad…
Technically it’s only another 2.5 years of him (his deal is three years including this season, not three additional years), but I think your point still stands!
— Luke
Damn. ESPN Trade Machine said four years. I feel like a total jerk you guys…Time to quit the internet forever…