J.R. Smith Announces Return to Cavaliers
J.R. Smith was able to find a home and a significant role on the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, so he's going to stick around to help the squad chase that elusive NBA title.
Although the veteran shooting guard took a pay cut, he sounded happy to announce his return to the Cavs via his Instagram account.
Smithmith originally opted out of the final year of his deal, which would have paid him $6.4 million for this season, and instead wound up settling for a two-year, $10 million-plus contract after failing to find a richer deal on the free-agent market. The second year of his contract will be a player option.
LeBron James is happy to have Smith back with the Cavs.
Smith was a key contributor during the Cavs' Eastern Conference finals sweep of the Atlanta Hawks, averaging 18.0 points on 50 percent shooting from the field and 47.1 percent from beyond the arc. However, his production dipped to 11.5 points per game on 31.2 percent shooting from the field and 29.4 percent from three-point range during the NBA Finals, where Cleveland lost to Golden State.
Now that Smith is back, the Cavs will continue to try to re-sign free-agent power forward Tristan Thompson. Cleveland's negotiations with Thompson are said to be at a stalemate.
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(Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
