JR Smith No Longer With Cleveland Cavaliers

CLEVELAND — JR Smith's time with the Cleveland Cavaliers appears to be at a close. The franchise issued a statement Tuesday saying Smith was no longer with the team, and trade deals for the disgruntled shooting guard are being worked on.

The Cavaliers are one of the worst teams in the NBA, despite retaining several key veterans from their NBA Finals appearances — including Smith, Kyle Korver, Channing Frye, and Kevin Love. With only two wins on the season, and 13 losses, 2018-2019 already seems lost for Cleveland basketball. Many of the squad's veterans reportedly want out and management wants to kick-start a youth movement.

The conflict between Smith and management had been a bubbling rumor for much of the season. After head coach Ty Lue was fired, and Larry Drew was made interim head coach, things seemed to accelerate.

Then the Cavaliers released this statement on Tuesday: "The Cleveland Cavaliers announced today that JR Smith will no longer be with team as the organization works with JR and his representation regarding his future.The organization wishes JR and his family well and appreciates and thanks him for his contributions in the community, to the team and his role in the 2016 NBA Championship."

Smith, a 6'6 shooting guard with 16 years of NBA experience, helped Cleveland win its first title in half a century in 2016. It wasn't all roses with Smith though, there were highs and lows and little in between. He was nearly as mercurial on the court as he was off it.

Smith's clutch shooting coming out of halftime in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals kept Cleveland close to the Warriors and allowed a late surge to cap a historic comeback. During the championship parade, he lost his shirt and made no effort to recover it. He endeared himself to fans with his earnestness.

Two years later, he squandered a legendary performance by LeBron James when he grabbed an offensive rebound and dribbled out the clock — despite Game 1 of the NBA Finals being tied. The Golden State Warriors would go on to sweep the Cleveland Cavaliers. It wasn't the first time Smith had made a bad play, but it was probably the most high-profile bad decision of his career.

Smith has only played in four games this season and is averaging only 20.2 minutes per game, his lowest average since the 2007-2008 season when he played for the Denver Nuggets, according to Basketball-Reference.

It's not immediately clear what team would want to take on Smith's contract and reputation as a shoot-first gunner, but there are plenty of teams in need of shooting (Philadelphia, comes to mind, for instance). It will be interesting to see if the Cavaliers find a suitable partner for Smith.

When JR is gone though, it will be the removal of yet another key cog in the 2016 championship machine. At least the banner hangs forever.

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Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images