J.R. Smith isn’t with the Minnesota Timberwolves but he might be as a result of a trade involving Jimmy Butler. Butler wants traded and rumors have a deal in the works to send Butler to Cleveland for Smith.
If Smith has a say in that, it’s not going to happen. On a NBA 2K19 gaming session, Smith said and then repeated that he’s not going to Minnesota.
@Cavsanada @FearTheSword JR isn’t a fan of the cavs thinking about trading for jimmy pic.twitter.com/yM7A1FxDFG
— Big Ben (@stepbacktree) September 25, 2018
Smith said, “I ain’t going to Minnesota. They can cancel my ticket for that. They can cancel Christmas for that. I ain’t going to no damn Minnesota. They better make it a three-way trade or something.”
There’s nothing on there that says it’s actually J.R. Smith but according to Uproxx, they matched a clip of someone playing Smith who had the same username plus the games that username has played. And since the voice does sound like Smith, it’s safe to assume that’s him.
Amid a rebuild in Cleveland for the post-LeBron era, Smith would rather stay in Cleveland. Maybe he has something against the location or the team or maybe he just doesn’t want to uproot and move to another place.
The issue is that Butler wants out and the Timberwolves are probably going to need to find a place for him. And with Butler’s salary, it narrows down the number of teams who could literally make the trade. The Cavs fit that criteria because Smith’s salary is comparable. But if Smith doesn’t want to go, Minnesota would just be replacing one upset player with another.
[Uproxx]
You can keep Smith. He’s old, way past his prime, overpaid, and useless on a basketball court. No thank you. Signed, Minnesota.