J.R. Smith was furious with the Knicks over the early 2015 trade that shipped him to Cleveland and separated him from the teammate he calls his “all-time favorite person.”
He also may be the Knicks’ most effective free-agent pitchman.
“Every person that’s in the NBA should experience playing in New York at least once in their career,” Smith gushes, in a video interview with Vice Sports. “To play at the Mecca of basketball and the Garden every night, it’s probably the greatest decision I’ve ever made to go to New York.”
The decision to trade Smith to the Cavaliers — along with Iman Shumpert, as part of a three-team swap that punted on the historically poor 2014-15 and brought back Lance Thomas — was communicated by general manager Steve Mills, just as Smith finished his shooting warmup before a game in Memphis.