American professional basketball player J.R. Smith has a reported salary of $5.565 million for 2014. He was born Earl Joseph Smith III on September 9, 1985 in Freehold Borough, New Jersey, USA. He attended Millstone Middle School and graduated in 1999.

Smith then went on to Steinert High School and McCorristin Catholic High School. He later transferred to Lakewood High School where he played basketball for the first time. He also transferred to St. Benedict’s Preparatory School and played basketball there. In his high school career, he made an average of 27 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

J.R. Smith signed a letter of intent to play at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in the fall of 2003. After a 25-point performance at the McDonald’s All-American Game in April 2004, where he was named game co-MVP with Dwight Howard, he declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft and left college.

Smith began his professional career when he was selected eight overall in the first round of the 2004 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Hornets. He was one of the nine players who were drafted straight out of high school in that year. During his rookie season, he averaged 10.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. However, his numbers declined during his second season with the Hornets with an average of 7.7 points, 2 rebounds and 1.1 assists while he played along with rookie Chris Paul.

On July 14, 2006, J.R. Smith and P.J. Brown were traded to the Chicago Bulls for Tyson Chandler. Six days after, he was traded again to the Denver Nuggets for Howard Eisley and two 2007 second-round draft picks. During the 2011 NBA lockout, he signed with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and became a CBA All-Star in 2012. He returned to the NBA in 2012 and signed with the New York Knicks. He was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year 2013.