J. R. Smith

Earl Joseph "J.R." Smith III

In 2021, Smith enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University, where he joined their Aggies golf team.

Early life Born in Freehold Borough, New Jersey, Smith grew up in the Clarksburg section of Millstone Township, New Jersey. He spent five years in high school. A freshman in 1999–2000, Smith went to Steinert High for the first semester and then McCorristin Catholic High for the next, both in New Jersey. Having not competed in sports for either school, he was permitted to transfer to Lakewood High and repeat his freshman year. He played two seasons of basketball for Lakewood before transferring to Saint Benedict's Preparatory School in 2002. He focused strictly on basketball as a senior. Smith decided to forgo college and declared for the 2004 NBA draft.

Denver Nuggets (2006–2011) On July 14, 2006, Smith was traded, alongside P. J. Brown, to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Tyson Chandler. During his first season in Denver, Smith served a 10-game NBA suspension from December 18 to January 8 following his involvement in the Knicks/Nuggets melee at New York's Madison Square Garden on December 16. He later missed eight games between February 23 and March 11 while recovering from arthroscopic left knee surgery. Nuggets coach George Karl reportedly had had enough of Smith's mistakes throughout the series, compounded by Smith's 3-pointer with 25.7 seconds left in Game 4 with Denver trailing 93–89. finishing third.

On December 23, 2009, Smith scored a season-high 41 points against the Atlanta Hawks, becoming the first NBA player ever to record multiple games of 10+ 3-pointers. In 2010–11, he averaged 12.3 points and 2.2 assists as the Nuggets' sixth man. Smith's tenure with the Nuggets ended in September 2011 due to the NBA lockout. A fan favorite in Denver for his 3-point shooting and electric dunks, Smith often drew the ire of coach George Karl for his befuddling shot selection. His deal was estimated to be worth around $3 million, the highest in league history. He had four 50+ point games during the season.

New York Knicks (2012–2015)

On February 17, 2012, Smith signed with the New York Knicks. He appeared in 35 games for the Knicks to finish the regular season, before appearing in all five of the Knicks' postseason games.

On July 11, 2012, Smith re-signed with the Knicks.

On July 11, 2013, Smith re-signed with the Knicks. On March 26, he hit nine 3-pointers against the Sacramento Kings, tying the Knicks' franchise record. Two days later, in a 102–91 loss to the Miami Heat, Smith broke an NBA record of 21 three-pointers taken in a single game, a mark set in 2005 by Damon Stoudamire. Smith hit 10 of 22 3-point shots against the Heat, setting a franchise record for 3-pointers made and finishing with 32 points for the second straight game.

Cleveland Cavaliers (2015–2019)

2014–15 season

On January 5, 2015, Smith was acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team trade that involved the Knicks and the Oklahoma City Thunder. On April 27, 2015, Smith was suspended for the first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals after he swung his arm and made contact with the head of Celtics forward Jae Crowder in Game 4 of their first-round series against Boston. In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Atlanta Hawks, Smith made eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points in a 97–89 victory. He helped the Cavaliers sweep the Hawks to reach the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games. During Cleveland's NBA Finals run in the 2015 playoffs, Smith appeared in 18 games (four starts), averaging 12.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in 31.1 minutes per game.

2015–16 season: First championship On September 2, 2015, Smith re-signed with the Cavaliers. During Cleveland's playoff run, Smith started in all 21 games, averaging 11.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 34.8 minutes per game. He made a franchise playoff-record 65 3-pointers, which were also the fourth-most threes made by any NBA player in a single postseason. Smith scored in double figures in each of the last five games of the NBA Finals, as Cleveland went 4–1 over that stretch against Golden State and took home the franchise's first NBA title. On November 1, in a win over the Houston Rockets, Smith hit his 344th three-pointer, passing Damon Jones for ninth place on the team's all-time list. On November 18, he hit three 3-pointers against the Detroit Pistons to move past Dirk Nowitzki into 15th place on the NBA's career list for 3-pointers. On December 13, Smith, having been in a season-long shooting slump, scored 17 of his season-high 23 points in the first half of the Cavaliers' 103–86 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. He came into the game shooting a career-low 31 percent from the field and 32 percent on 3-pointers, the lowest mark since his rookie season with New Orleans. He finished the game with 8-of-17 from the field and 6-of-10 on 3s, passing Dale Ellis (1,719) for 14th on the career three-pointer list. On December 20, in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks, Smith suffered a fractured right thumb that required surgery. Three days later, he was ruled out for 12–14 weeks. He made his return to the line-up on March 9 against the Pistons. Smith helped the Cavaliers go 12–1 over the first three rounds of the playoffs to reach the NBA Finals for a third straight season. There the Cavaliers faced the Warriors, but lost the series in five games.

2017–18 season

Smith struggled over the first 10 games of the 2017–18 season. He found his form on November 7, scoring a season-high 20 points on 5-of-7 3-pointers in a 124–119 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, passing Rashard Lewis (1,787) for 14th place on the NBA's career 3-pointers made list. On March 2, 2018, Smith was suspended by the Cavaliers for one game for throwing a bowl of soup at assistant coach, Damon Jones. During Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Warriors, Smith got a free-throw rebound with 4.7 seconds left in regulation time. The game was tied, meaning that a basket would have won the game. Smith, apparently confused and thinking the Cavaliers were leading, attempted to dribble out the clock before realizing his error and frantically passing to George Hill with 1.2 seconds left, in front of a visibly irate LeBron James. The Cavaliers lost 124–114 in overtime. In a post-game interview, Smith initially claimed to have known it was a tie game. He later backtracked, saying: "After thinking about it a lot... I can't say I was sure of anything at that point." The Cavaliers went on to lose the series in a four-game sweep.

2018–19 season Cleveland began 2018–19 with a 2–13 record after LeBron James left the team in free agency for the Lakers. Head coach Tyronn Lue had been fired after an 0–6 start, the team was suffering injuries to All-Star Kevin Love and others, and Smith's role had been reduced. On November 20, 2018, the Cavaliers announced that Smith "will no longer be with team as the organization works with JR and his representation regarding his future." A day earlier, he had accused the team of not trying to win, saying their goal was to "develop [young players] and lose to get lottery picks."

On July 15, 2019, he was waived by the Cavaliers.

Los Angeles Lakers (2020) On July 1, 2020, Smith signed with the Los Angeles Lakers for the remainder of the 2019–20 season, reuniting him with former Cavaliers teammate LeBron James. On July 30, he made his debut for the Lakers, recording no points and one foul in a 103–101 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. On August 3, Smith logged his first points for the Lakers, grabbing four points in a 116–108 win over the Utah Jazz. On August 13, he recorded a season-high 11 points, along with one rebound and two assists, in a 122–136 loss to the Sacramento Kings. On August 20, he recorded a playoff-high 11 points, along with two assists, in a 111–88 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Smith went on to win his second NBA championship when the Lakers defeated the Miami Heat in six games.

Career statistics

NBA Regular season

Playoffs

CBA

College golf On August 11, 2021, it was reported that Smith enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University, aiming for a degree in liberal studies and planning to join the Aggies golf team. He graduated in 2026. The university announced on October 8, 2021, that Smith had qualified to play in the Aggies' upcoming tournament, the Phoenix Invitational hosted by nearby Elon University, on October 11 and 12. Under team rules, all golfers must qualify for regular-season tournaments in practice unless they were among the team's top two golfers in its previous tournament. Smith qualified for the Phoenix Invitational by one stroke, shooting rounds of 83 and 78 (respectively 12 and 7 over par) on the event's first day. Smith was named the North Carolina A&T Academic Athlete of the Year for 2021–2022 with a 4.0 GPA. Smith's time with the men's golf team is the focus of the 2023 docuseries Redefined: J. R. Smith.

Smith was supposed to compete in the inaugural Internet Invitational, but missed the event at the last minute and had to be replaced by Lacy Snell, an employee of Big Cedar Lodge golf resort.

Smith graduated from North Carolina A&T State University in May 2026, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Applied Cultural Thought.

Esports In 2021, J.R Smith signed with Complexity Gaming, and he has also played Warzone tournaments.

Personal life

In 2012, The New York Times described Smith as perhaps the most heavily tattooed player in the NBA. He said that he got his first tattoo at 15 years old, has been in "robably a thousand" tattoo parlors and had lost count of his number of tattoos "around 70-something." In June 2016, a Cleveland clothing company began selling a T-shirt which reproduced Smith's torso and upper arm tattoos.

In November 2016, Smith appeared on stage with his family at a Cleveland rally for the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign to endorse Clinton's candidacy for the 2016 United States presidential election.

Smith modeled for Nike and Supreme in 2018. He subsequently had the Supreme logo tattooed on his calf. Smith has dyslexia. His younger brother Dimitrius played football at Monmouth University.

In August 2016, Smith married Jewel Harris; the couple have three daughters together. Smith has one daughter from a previous relationship. Their second daughter together was born in January 2017, weighing one pound at birth. Former teammates Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul are the godfathers of his first two daughters. On September 27, 2024, he welcomed a son with actress Candice Patton.

Controversies

On June 9, 2007, Smith and two passengers were injured in a car accident on Stagecoach Road in Millstone Township, New Jersey, when the SUV he was driving collided with another car. before being pronounced dead on the night of June 11. Neither Smith nor the second passenger suffered life-threatening injuries.

On August 5, 2009, Smith suspended his Twitter account after he was accused of writing in a way that reflected the Bloods gang, specifically replacing his c's with k's.

On August 28, 2009, Smith was suspended seven games for the 2009–10 NBA season in response to his guilty plea to a reckless driving charge related to the fatal 2007 accident. The NBA also cited his poor driving record as grounds for the suspension. Smith's driving record included five suspensions in eight months, but was "in good standing" at the time of the crash in New Jersey. He was required to pay restoration fees and fines. Smith totaled 27 points against his record from April 2005 to January 2006, including eight violations on seven different days. Five citations were for speeding. Since the accident, he has received two more speeding tickets and three license suspensions in New Jersey.

In March 2012, Smith was fined $25,000 by the NBA for posting a picture of model Tahiry Jose on his Twitter account. In May 2012, Smith was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida for failing to appear in court in 2011 after he was cited for operating a motor scooter with no valid license. The following month, he sued his former team, the Zhejiang Golden Bulls, for $1 million after the team withheld that amount from his salary claiming he missed many practices and faked an injury.

In September 2018, the NBA threatened to fine Smith if he appeared in a game without covering up the Supreme logo tattooed on his leg. Smith initially resisted but, after talking with National Basketball Players Association officials, eventually agreed to hide the tattoo.

On May 31, 2020, Smith was seen on video allegedly attacking another man. The man was allegedly participating in the George Floyd protests and had allegedly broken Smith's truck window with his skateboard. Smith claimed in a video to have chased the man down and "whooped his ass" because he "broke his shit", and he referred to the man as a "motherfucking white boy."