The Cleveland Cavaliers are hoping key players who brought the team to the NBA Finals last season will be coming back and one of them is free agent guard J.R. Smith.
Smith was acquired together with Iman Shumpert via a trade deal from the New York Knicks and instantly they added firepower to the Cavs' offense.
The 29-year-old guard showed improved performance when he came to Cleveland and was a serious threat from three-point territory.
Smith played in 46 regular season games and averaged 12.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.4 steals per game.
The Cavaliers played the Golden State Warriors in the Finals and lost in six games, although they were undermanned with injuries to All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving and forward Kevin Love.
In their playoff run, Smith played in 18 games and was averaging 12.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per outing.
Despite his great performance with the Cavs and a promise of a future championship, Smith decided to opt out of his $6.4 million option and be a free agent hoping the team would sign him to a long-term deal.
But that did not happen since Smith is still a free agent. Although the Cavs have plans of signing him, it looks like not to the contract that he wants.
Smith may have made the wrong move opting out of his option as Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com reported that the Cavaliers are offering the 11-year veteran a one-year deal which will earn him lower the amount of the option he decided not to pick-up.
As of now, Smith is running out of choices since no team has really expressed interest in signing him; the Cavaliers seem to be the best option for him as of now.
Center Tristan Thompson, who also played huge for the Cavaliers last season, is another player yet to be signed; although LeBron James said inking him to a new deal is their number one priority.
