LeBron James calls out Cavs for not signing J.R. Smith
By Greg Patuto
J.R. Smith and the Cavs have not come to terms yet on a new contract. LeBron James is not happy about it.
J.R. Smith made headlines this offseason, after he helped the Cavs win their first NBA title, for never wearing a shirt. Now, he’s in headlines for a different reason. Smith and the Cavs can’t seem to come to an agreement on a contract.
Smith rejected a contract offer from the Cavs that would pay him $10-11 million a season. The average contract for NBA shooting guards is $11.2 million. This will force him to miss training camp, much to the dismay of the best player in the world, LeBron James.
“I hate coming into a season, two years in a row, with one of my big guns not here.” James said according to the Sporting News. “So, for a leader of a team and for me personally, I just hate to deal with this s— again. It’s just too big of a piece to our team to have to deal with in another training camp.”
Smith averaged 12.4 PPG last season in the regular season and 11.5 PPG in the postseason where he started 21 games for the champion Cavs. He is a good role player in the NBA and plays well with LeBron but him not being on the team won’t make or break the Cavs. They are still championship contenders and will probably come out of the East with or without Smith.
Off the court, Smith is known to be a great locker room guy and is always well liked by his teammates wherever he goes. LeBron is one of these teammates that is a big fan of Smith. The NBA world knows how much pull LeBron has in Cleveland and one complaint from him could get this deal done soon.
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“We just miss him. We miss having him around. He’s a big piece of our team and they just need to get it done,” LeBron stated.
While they seem to be far off, expect Smith and the Cavs to come to an agreement sometime soon because it doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere else.