Former NBA champion JR Smith arrested in Texas on family violence assault causing bodily injury charge

Two-time NBA champion JR Smith was arrested on Monday in Texas on a charge of family violence assault causing bodily injury, according to Hunt County jail records. He was taken into custody and booked into the Hunt Country Detention Center.

No further details about the arrest were available in the report published on Wednesday. The charge concerns a former NBA player whose 16-year career included championships with the Cavaliers and Lakers.

What has been reported about the arrest

Original reporting from TMZ said officers pulled Smith over after an automatic licence plate reader flagged the vehicle he was driving and alerted them to an active warrant. He was then taken into custody.

No further details about the arrest were available at the time of the report. The jail records cited in the report confirm the arrest, while TMZ’s account describes the traffic stop that preceded it.

Smith’s NBA career

Smith entered the NBA directly from high school in 2004 and finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2005. He went on to spend five seasons with the Nuggets, developing a reputation as a scorer off the bench over much of his career.

He finished in the top five of Sixth Man of the Year voting three times and won the award with the Knicks in 2013. Smith later won two championships alongside LeBron James: with the Cavaliers in 2016 and the Lakers in 2020.

Smith is probably most remembered for his gaffe in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals. With the score tied in the closing seconds, Smith rebounded George Hill’s missed free throw but ran the ball back out to near half court rather than attempting a potential game-winning shot. He thought the Cavaliers were one point ahead. The game went to overtime, where the Cavaliers lost, and they were subsequently swept by the Warriors.

Life after basketball

After his NBA career, Smith enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University and played on its golf team as a 35-year-old freshman. Over four years with the Aggies, he qualified for and played in seven collegiate tournaments.

He also earned a 4.0 GPA in his first college semester and was named the university’s Academic Athlete of the Year in 2022. As for Monday’s arrest, no further details were available in the published account.