J.R. Smith's return to the NBA is close at hand with his season in the Chinese Basketball Association ending on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Smith tweeted that he spoke with Los Angeles Lakers' head coach Mike Brown, which was later confirmed by the coach himself.
Just had a great talk with Coach Brown!
— JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) February 14, 2012
The Lakers are one of several teams that are vying to pick up the former Denver Nuggets guard. Smith does have his finalists appear on the top of his Twitter page: "NYK? LAL? LAC? CHI? ORL? iNDI?" The two Los Angeles teams appear to be front-runners. Clippers guard Chris Paul has been lobbying for Smith, and the conversation between Brown and Smith could make this tough fight between the two teams.
The Nuggets moved on from Smith by re-signing Arron Afflalo and trading for Corey Brewer and Rudy Fernandez.
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