NBA Rumors: Former NBA Champion Could Join East Favorites In Free Agency For 2019-2020 Season

J.R. Smith has begun exploring his opportunities in free agency. After being waived by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the veteran could join one of the best teams in the NBA.

According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Smith will meet with the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday. Milwaukee has the best odds of any Eastern Conference team to win the 2020 NBA Finals after leading the league with 60 wins last season.

Milwaukee was eliminated by the eventual champion Toronto Raptors in the conference finals. Toronto is not among the East favorites after losing Kawhi Leonard in free agency.

The Los Angeles Lakers were once considered a potential landing spot for Smith, but ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Monday that L.A. is unlikely to sign the shooting guard.

Smith only played 11 games for Cleveland in the 2018-2019 season. The Cavs had little use for the 33-year-old as they began to rebuild around younger players.

In the 2017-2018 season, Smith averaged 8.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game for a Cleveland team that was eventually swept in the finals. Smith shot 37.5 percent from three-point range. He’s a 37.3 percent career three-point shooter.

Smith might be best known for his notorious blunder at the end of regulation in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals, though the veteran has had plenty of good moments in the playoffs.

It was Smith—not Kevin Love—that was Cleveland’s third-leading scorer behind LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in the 2016 NBA Finals. Smith averaged 10.6 points in 37.1 minutes per game, scoring in double figures in each of the last five games of the series as the Cavs upset the 73-win Golden State Warriors.

Smith scored just 74 points in 222 total minutes last year.