JR Smith has been patiently sitting on the free agent market waiting. The shooting guard believed he upped his value at the end of last season following a trade from the New York Knicks to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had a successful stint in the playoffs and felt confident enough to opt out of his player option with the belief that he would get a pay raise and a multi-year deal from Cleveland. That has yet to happen, but are the Cavaliers getting close to bringing him back on a smaller contract?
According to Hoops Rumors, the Cavaliers are still planning on bringing back Smith with a contract expected in the next 10 days. There was a rumor that the Los Angeles Lakers were interested in adding Smith to the roster despite already having Nick Young and Lou Williams at that position. Young has been facing trade rumors for most of the offseason, but a deal is not expected to get done thanks to his big contract. That means Smith is not being added as well.
The Cavaliers are trying to finish getting contracts done as several key players remain waiting on their new deals. The Cavaliers got Matthew Dellavedova to drop his contract demands after wanting a multi-year deal worth at least $4 million per season. Can the Cavaliers do the same with Smith? Cleveland's biggest concern is getting Tristan Thompson signed to a contract as he wants a deal that is max money or a little less. That is proving to be easier said than done despite trading away the big contracts of Mike Miller and Brendan Haywood.
The Cavaliers remain confident that all of their contract issues will get complete sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, the best part of Cleveland's offseason is likely the health of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love as both players are improving from their season-ending injuries. Anderson Varejao is also making a healthy comeback, but will not see as much court time as he once did. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Varejao will be getting a limited role in 2015 thanks to the rise of Timofey Mozgov. The Cavaliers like the trio of Mozgov, Love and Thompson rather than putting in the veteran Varejao as a starter.