The Los Angeles Lakers have one roster spot left.
While the popular belief in the NBA these days is that Andre Iguodala could fill it if he clears waivers with the Memphis Grizzlies, the Lakers may have their eyes set on someone else too: J.R. Smith.
“I think the Lakers are giving him a serious look,” Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
Why??
“Because I think they want to go into the season with the roster they have. Check the first 10, 15 games, see how things are going, check the list of numbers and percentages and see what they lack before they decide what they’re gonna do.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers headed into the 2019 NBA offseason with the hope that they could get a future draft pick by trading Smith and his partially guaranteed contract for the 2019-20 NBA season.
No dice.
With their inability to trade him, the Cavaliers decided to waive Smith’s contract on Monday and let him become an unrestricted free agent.
The Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Houston Rockets are believed to have had interest in Smith during the offseason.
Milwaukee Bucks will meet with J.R. Smith today as first reported by @ShamsCharania.
Philadelphia 76ers & Houston Rockets also have interest in J.R. Smith.
— Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson (@ScoopB) July 18, 2019
Smith has signed with none of those teams.
Rumors circulated that Smith could potentially have a reunion with LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Could it be?
“J.R. Smith makes perfect sense for those teams you mentioned, The Lakers, The Clippers, etc,” Chris Haynes tells Scoop B Radio.
“The only thing with J.R. is you have to see where he is mentally, if he’s gonna come in and behave like a model citizen. But, you can’t deny his skill-set, or that he’s one of the best catch and shoot players in the league; championship pedigree. He knows how to play at a high level. So, I actually thought he’d be gone by now.”
