After spending five seasons with the Denver Nuggets, J.R. Smith’s contract ended. However, the end gave rise to something unexpected. The 2011 NBA lockout had thrown everything into chaos, stretching over five months and shrinking the season to just 66 games. With the league frozen and no team activity allowed, Smith started looking elsewhere. Finally, he signed with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls in China. It was a surprising decision, but with no NBA games in sight, he had little choice. And that turned out to be a great decision.

In China, Smith quickly became a scoring machine. He averaged 34.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game. That dominant performance reminded people of his untapped potential. Surprisingly, once the lockout ended, he didn’t return to Denver or go west to Los Angeles. Instead, he joined the New York Knicks. The transition shocked many, especially after his explosive run in the Chinese league. But this was only the start of a wild chapter in his NBA journey.

Recently, Smith opened up about that turning point on 7PM in Brooklyn. He revealed Kobe Bryant once sent him a heartfelt message, saying, “He’s like, ‘Yo man, like I need you. What’s up, man? I need—I need an alpha.'” With that, Smith admitted he was ready to join the Lakers. “Grover started texting me and sh*t… I might go to the Lakers,” he shared. Even Chris Paul reached out, asking him to consider the Clippers. “So CP started hitting me. He’s like, ‘Yo bro, like you need to come to the Clippers. Like, we need to figure this out like dadada…’, ‘I’m like, ‘Sh*t. Oh, all right,'” he recalled. But then, Carmelo Anthony stepped in.

Now, Anthony didn’t push hard. Instead, he just asked a simple question: “Damn, dawg, you going to do me like that?” That casual line changed everything.

Before this, Smith admitted that he didn’t even see the Knicks as an option. He revealed that Melo never explicitly asked him to join the Knicks. Rather, he expected Smith to join the team because of the brotherhood between them. ‘I was like, ‘What you mean?’ He’s like, ‘You ain’t—you ain’t coming over here?’,” And he simply replied, “All right man, I’ll be there Monday.”

That’s all it took for Smith to give up an opportunity to play with one of the greatest players of the time. He played in New York for nearly five seasons, becoming a key player. Smith averaged 15 points per game in 2012-13 and even won Sixth Man of the Year. Looking back, it wasn’t the loudest pitch that won him over, it was the most personal one.

Carmelo Anthony reveals his side of the story

While J.R. Smith’s version of the story felt like a tug-of-war between NBA legends, Carmelo Anthony remembers it a little differently. Melo couldn’t help but laugh as he recalled what really happened behind the scenes. “Yo—first of all, the story’s behind the scenes,” he began, trying to hold back laughter. As Smith was lighting up China, Melo said calls were flying in. “Leon, Rose—we all have the same—me, CP, everybody has the same agent at this point in time.”

Melo explained how Kobe was doing more than just casual check-ins. “Kobe hits me and says, ‘Yo, hey.’ Like he’s—but I know he’s searching for information. ‘Yo bro, how you doing over there in New York, man? You know what I mean?” he said. But according to Melo, Kobe actually wanted the inside scoop on J.R.’s status.

“’Oh man… what’s up with JR?’ Said, ‘Man, he in China, man. You know, I think he staying over there.’” But then came a twist. Melo said Leon pulled him aside and told him straight up: “This is real for Leon Rose to do this. He said: Melo, your brother is a hot commodity right now in China.”

Everyone was calling about J.R., and Leon knew it. Melo said, “He said, ‘I think you need to— I think you need to give him a call.’” So that’s exactly what he did.

After a Knicks game, despite the time difference, Melo rang up his longtime friend. It wasn’t a pitch but just a check-in. “Just chopping it up with him, that’s my brother,” he said. He revealed how, after his question how Smith replied with, “He like, ‘Oh man, let me talk to Leon.’ That’s what he told me”. Melo joked that two days later, Leon Rose called him back saying, “Man, I don’t know what you said to JR— he on a flight. He’s a New York Knick.” 

Smith landed in New York fresh from China, and the rest, as they say, was history.