Was J.R. Smith lying when he said that opted to re-join the Cleveland Cavaliers next season for the chance to win an NBA championship over getting a more lucrative deal elsewhere?

According to Eric Freeman of Yahoo Sports' Ball Don't Lie column, it's more likely that Smith was  expecting larger offers to come but saw little interest, so he made it appear that winning an NBA title was his priority.

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Smith agreed to re-join the Cavaliers for the 2015-16 season at $5 million, which is practically a pay cut from $6.4 million he should have received for the final year of his previous deal had he not opted out . 

His new deal has a player option for the second year and carries a no-trade clause.

The NBA veteran announced on Instagram that he's happy to return to the Cavs, and that while negotiations have been a long ride it was well worth the wait, according to ESPN.

He explained that in opting out of his deal, he wanted to ascertain where he could fit best and realized that the Cavaliers have the necessary pieces for a championship run. 

Smith supposedly decided it's difficult to pass up a great opportunity to accomplish his ulitmate goal of capturing an NBA championship for more money with another team.

Recent Cavaliers offers were below Smith's option figure since the team made massive offseason signings and needed to free up salary space to make a run in resigning Tristan Thompson.

Smith was gun shy during the NBA Finals and aggravated the Cavs situation of having lost Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love to injuries.

However, Smith excelled as a role player up until the Finals.

He shot 39.0 percent from three-point area in over 46 regular-season games and 35.9 percent in the playoffs.

Smith is considered  one of the league's best bench shooters and makes the Cavaliers a more formidable team.

TagsJ.R. Smith, contract extension, cleveland cavaliers, NBA Deals