Former Knick Chris Smith waived by D-League team

Back on Dec. 31, the New York Knicks waived guard Chris Smith.

Otherwise an inconsequential move, it was a big deal because Smith is the brother of New York Knick J.R. Smith, and the older brother, J.R., was displeased with the team's decision.

Chris Smith's tenure with the team had largely been a punchline, however. At age 26, he hadn't even impressed much in Summer League, let alone at a level high enough to warrant an NBA job. He appeared in just two games for the Knicks, playing two minutes and failing to appear in the boxscore otherwise. A pair of club trillions.

Many joked - in seriousness, most likely - that his signing was a de facto favor to J.R. Smith, perhaps even a part of the three-year, $17.9 million contract he signed in the offseason. When you can pay $5.6 million this year for J.R. Smith to shoot 38.7 percent on your 21-40 team and pay his younger brother a fully-guaranteed $490,180, you pretty much have to do it.

It looked really bad. It looks a lot worse now.

According to D-League Digest, Smith has now been waived by the Erie BayHawks, the D-League team he caught on with after the Knicks had cut ties with him.

CHRIS SMITH GOT GUARANTEED MONEY FROM THE NEW YORK KNICKS AND JUST GOT CUT FROM THE D-LEAGUE.

In 23 games with Erie, Smith averaged 8.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists, shooting an atrocious 35.4 percent from the floor and 25 percent on threes. His true shooting percentage was 46.5 percent, well below the league-average of roughly 54.8 percent.

He was well below average. In the D-League. And he got waived. And the New York Knicks gave him guaranteed money.

UPDATE: According to Yahoo Sports, this was a few days coming, and Smith hilariously had left the team citing playing time concerns.