The NBA is considering fining Cavs guard J.R. Smith after publicly acknowledging his request to be traded from the team during a brief media session Thursday after practice, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The league’s collective bargaining agreement clearly states that players nor agents can speak about trade rumors, considered a finable violation under those terms.
“Yeah. Honestly. They know,” said Smith when asked about his wish to be dealt, according to Marla Ridenour of The Akron Beacon Journal. “They don’t want me, so they obviously know.”
Former Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe was fined $10,000 last season when he claimed, “I don’t wanna be here,” before getting traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. Smith is on much less dubious grounds, as he was forthcoming with the press, revealing much more about his relationship with the team.
“They asked me if I wanted to be around the team and if I didn’t I could leave and go home and do whatever,” said Smith. “I can’t do that to these fans, I can’t do it to the city. To come from where I came from, from pretty much nothing to Cleveland and the way the city embraced me, the fans embraced me, the relationship I have with them, I can’t do that to them. It’s not about me, it’s not about who wants me here and who doesn’t want me here, for me it’s all about the fans.”
The 33-year-old was partly puzzled with how the Cavs chose to handle this situation, reportedly telling him after the third game of the season that he would be out of the rotation for good.
“There’s a lot of things that’s going on around here that I don’t know the answer to and I don’t know why it’s going on, but it is and I can’t control that,” said Smith. “I just worry about what I can control, worry about being a good vet to these young guys who are playing. Cheer for ’em, help ’em as much as they want me to help. Other than that, I’m buying time, I guess.”
The Cavs may not be able to trade Smith at this point of the season, given that he’s largely viewed as an unwanted piece by the rest of the league. Any efforts to ship him out of town will likely have to wait until the trade deadline or be laid to rest, if the Cavs hope to waive him by next year and pay only a small portion of his remaining salary.