Cavs swingman J.R. Smith has grown frustrated with the direction the team has chosen to take by instilling this full-rebuild of a youth movement, but is even more irked by how the news of his soon-to-be nonexistent role came to be. During the summer, Smith’s camp was reportedly informed that he would not play this season, but the veteran is still upset with the lack of communication from the front office, hoping to hear it directly from general manager Koby Altman.
“I don’t mind taking a back seat or sitting down or if you don’t want me to play, I don’t mind that. But at least communicate that to me,” said Smith, according to Marla Ridenour of The Akron Beacon Journal. “To feel like you’re going to play one day, and then you just don’t play, coming from four Finals appearances, starting, winning a championship, and doing all these things. Sacrificing your body and injury and fighting through all of that to be, you can’t even look me in my face and tell me, that’s disrespectful to me.”
Smith will find it challenging to show up to work, knowing he’s not wanted by the decision-makers, but he’s found solace on those who have gone to battle with him before.
“It’s hard,” said Smith. “Fortunately I to a great crew of people, former teammates, teammates, former coaches, lot of people in my ear that’s helped me to go through this process. But at the end of the day I can’t take it out on my teammates. Regardless how hard it is to walk in here and actually put on, as hard as it may sound, to put on a Cavs jersey or shirt, I can’t do that to my teammates. I can’t do that to the fans.”
The 33-year-old went from being an important cog in a championship team to a non-relevant veteran with an uncertain future.
“It’s hard to be somewhere where they know they don’t want you there. You gotta go in there and put on this front and act like you’re so happy, regardless,” he said. “We all make a ton of money. That’s not what this is about. I can’t even be competitive anymore. For somebody in my shoes, that’s the hardest part.”
The Cavs are likely to let him play out this season before waiving him the next, paying only a small portion of his hefty salary, as no trade suitors have shown any interest in him.