Lakers Rumors: Projecting JR Smith's Future for 2021 as Contract Details Emerge

The Los Angeles Lakers, as expected, ended up making one of the biggest moves of any team in the NBA before the new transaction window closed, getting something done with guard JR Smith. 

Such a marriage wasn't hard to see coming in the wake of the Lakers finding out Avery Bradley had opted out of the season restart in Orlando, Florida. 

Marc Stein of the New York Times reported Monday that Smith was expected to sign a deal with the Lakers for the remainder of 2019-20: 

What's most interesting about the development, though, is the future. 

Onlookers know what Smith brings to the table. He spent the last five seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and averaged 6.7 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists over 11 games in 2018-19. For his career, he averages 12.5 points and 2.1 assists per game on 41.9 percent shooting from the floor and 37.3 percent from deep. 

The fine print of the details given the roster expansion and new transaction window is what makes things interesting, as reported by Bobby Marks of ESPN: 

In other words, Bradley is ineligible for the rest of the season but Smith is in on a short-term basis at a cheap cost.

This could easily turn into a scenario where the 34-year-old impresses to the point he's brought back again the season after in a similar fashion and role. He is, after all, lethal off the bench and one of those tempo guys who can keep opposing second teams honest while (ideally) preserving or even extending a lead built by the starters. 

Experience with LeBron James sure doesn't hurt, either. 

This is a reunion for James and Smith, who have logged more than 8,000 minutes together over three or so seasons.

One look at the stat sheet says Smith shot better from deep during his time on the court with James than without, and schematically speaking, his ability from range spaced the court and let James do his thing while driving to the basket. 

Call it another fun option for James to have. Smith isn't the defender Bradley was by any means, but he's statistically better from deep than any other shooting guard on the roster (but not forward Danny Green) and over a much bigger sample size.

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

There's also the not-so-small matter of Smith serving as a mentor for younger players like Alex Caruso, not to mention the fact that he has experience in four Finals to date. He's simply built for this sort of quick eight-game sprint and playoff format while playing around one of the most stacked rosters in the league. 

The short nature of the contract here, with little in the way of ramifications, makes it easy to see the Lakers again going the comfortable route here with Smith next season should things go well.

There's a historical precedent for Smith to play quite well alongside James as a role player when called upon, and if Smith wants to keep going into his age-35 season, he isn't going to want to settle for anything less than a comfort zone like this with LeBron—one that brought him out of a hiatus and into odd bubble circumstances in the first place. 

But first things first: Smith has to settle into a role and boost a core boasting James, Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma into the projected tier of championship contention.