JR Smith will get an extra $500,000 from somebody in exchange for giving the Cavaliers more time to trade him.
For months, the Cavs felt their top trade piece this summer was Smith’s contract because it’s one of the few left in the NBA that can be traded for its total value ($15.7 million) but only count as a fraction of that against the salary cap.
Smith agreed to move the date for which his contract becomes fully guaranteed from June 30 to Aug. 1, in exchange for the guaranteed portion of his deal to increase from $3.9 million to $4.4 million, league sources told The Athletic.
The move gives Cleveland more time to make sure Smith leaves as an asset and use the first wave of NBA free agency as perhaps an anecdote to get potential trade partners to lower the financial burden they’re trying to lay on the Cavs for taking Smith.
Smith last played in an NBA game Nov. 19, in Detroit. That night, he told The Athletic he felt the Cavs were trying to…
