The 2011 NBA lockout was an absurd time. Nobody knew what to do or how long until they’d be able to get back on the court. But not everyone was content to sit around and wait for a resolution. Many players turned to local gyms and courts. Kobe Bryant and LeBron James famously played in the Drew League.
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Even as most players stayed home, there was a significant chunk of players who chose to take their talents abroad instead of waiting and seeing how the lockout unraveled. J.R. Smith was one such player. He chose to take his talents to China to play for the Zhejiang Golden Bulls of the Chinese Basketball Association.
Smith lit it up while he was in China, even scoring 60 points off the bench in one game. His impressive play led to renewed interest from NBA teams, and some of the biggest stars in the game hit him up to see if he’d be interested in coming back and joining forces with them.
That included Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul, as Smith recounted during a recent appearance on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast.
“Kobe texted me,” Smith recalled. “He’s like, ‘Yo man, I need you, what’s up man, I need you, I need an alpha.” CP3 wasn’t far behind with his own overture. “Yo bruh, you need to come to the Clippers, we need to figure this out.”
Smith was flattered by the interest from two of the game’s best players, but he didn’t end up going to L.A. to join with either of them because his former running mate in Denver, Carmelo Anthony, stepped in.
All of these players had the same agent, so Melo had heard through the grapevine that Kobe and Paul were trying to recruit Smith. Now, on the Knicks after forcing his way out of Denver, he couldn’t have that.
Smith remembers Melo hitting him up and probing him for information on what his post-China plans were, to which he replied that he might join the Lakers or the Clippers because of the calls he’d gotten from Kobe and CP3.
“Damn dawg, you gonna do me like that?!” Smith recalled Melo’s reply. That was all it took, and Smith was on the next flight out to New York.
Melo shared his own side of the story once Smith finished, and it was amazing to hear the way everyone thought they were being slick by trying to get to his former Nuggets teammate. “Kobe hits me, and I know he’s searching for information,” Melo remembered. “What’s up with JR? We gotta get him back over here.”
Leon Rose helped Carmelo get Smith
Leon Rose, the agent who represented all of these guys, did Melo a solid and told him that if he wanted Smith to come to New York, he better act fast, because Kobe and others were trying to get to him first. Melo did, and he remembered Smith then asking to talk to Rose after they were done.
“Leon called me back two days after, like, ‘I don’t know what you said to JR, but he on a flight. He’s a New York Knick.’ I said, “What the f***?! And then we went from there. N**** came in there fresh from China.”
There have been stories over the years of players making backchannel deals to join forces, skirting NBA front offices until the time came to sign on the dotted line. LeBron and the “banana boat boys” is a legendary one of how he got with Dwyane Wade and nearly joined forces with Melo and CP3, as well.
Smith was brilliant with the Knicks. His high-flying antics and unbothered plays were entertaining, even if they weren’t too rewarding. Yet, it’s hard not to wonder how he would have looked alongside Kobe Bryant in the aftermath of the Mavericks winning their first title.
