New York Knicks rumors: Milwaukee Bucks not interested in J.R. Smith

The New York Knicks met the major goal of the offseason when they re-signed forward Carmelo Anthony to a five-year deal.

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They were busy early in the summer as well. They dealt center Tyson Chandler and point guard Raymond Felton to the Dallas Mavericks for point guard Jose Calderón, center Samuel Dalambert, swingman Wayne Ellington, point guard Shane Larkin and two second round picks that wound up being former Wichita State Shockers’ swingman Cleanthony Early and Greek swingman Thanasis Antetokounmpo, the brother of Milwaukee Bucks’ swingman Giannis Antetokounmpo. In a year, they will see Amar’e Stoudemire and Andra Bargnani come off of the books. In the meantime, the Knicks are trying to unload guards J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert.

There have been rumors new Milwaukee Bucks’ head coach Jason Kidd, who played with Smith in New York could be interested in acquiring his former teammate, but Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders believes there is no way Smith winds up in Milwaukee.

"JR Smith is NOT coming to Milwaukee. They want the ball in the hands of Jabari Parker and Giannis Alphabet as much usage as possible on the offensive end and Smith would eat a lot of that up. I like Shumpert, though, and he could play pretty much anywhere. Not sure I see a deal between these two teams, but the Kidd connection certainly is there. He felt strongly, I’m sure the higher-ups would consider it. I don’t see this specific recommendation happening, though. Smith is a bad fit on the young Bucks."

Smith went for 14.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 0.9 steals per game while shooting 41.5% from the floor, 39.4% from three and 65.2% from the charity stripe last season.

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