This was expected. It was also the smart basketball move.
The Knicks have waived little-used guard who is currently in the D-League Chris Smith — the brother of J.R. Smith — to make way for bringing back Jeremy Tyler. The Knicks need the help along the front line and Chris Smith is frankly of little if any use to this team. He was long seen as a guy signed to make J.R. and CAA (his agents) happy.
So what was J.R.’s reaction to his brother getting waived? To post this on Instagram:
Have fun dealing with this too, Mike Woodson.
Make no mistake, this is the right basketball move. Tyler got a partially guaranteed contract over the summer after he had a strong showing at the Las Vegas Summer League (he averaged 12.8 points on 56.8 percent shooting, plus 6.4 rebounds a game). Then he fractured his foot in workouts to get ready for training camp, had to have surgery and was going to be out 10 weeks or so, giving the Knicks reason to look elsewhere.
Now they need a spark and they may get something from Tyler. They were not going to get it from the younger Smith. BTW, Chris will get his full $490,180 this season, his contract was guaranteed.