In the aftermath of Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley deciding to opt out of returning to finish the NBA season in Orlando, Florida, names immediately began to emerge as potential replacements.
The Lakers were free to sign someone to replace Bradley and the most obvious idea was guard JR Smith. As the Lakers were looking at potential additions before the season was postponed, one of the players they worked out was Smith.
Though the Lakers ultimately went with Dion Waiters, Smith is still very familiar to the Lakers staff as well as many players on the team, especially LeBron James, with whom he won a championship with in 2016 with the Cleveland Cavaliers.