Knicks’ guard J.R Smith has been struggling this season.  Averaging just 11.3 points per game, the former Sixth Man of the Year has watched his stock plummet.  Knicks went from worrying about whether they could retain him or be outbid to now being laughed at during trade inquiries.

Smith’s antics have caused angst amongst fans and frustration from his coach, Mike Woodson.  His latest transgression includes untying the laces of his opponents (Greg Monroe of the Pistons and Shawn Marion of the Mavericks) and it’s costed him a whopping $50,000 fine from the league.

With low production and a fed up coach, there’s now reports that the Knicks are trying to trade the troubled guard.  Unfortunately the response is exactly what you would think… laughter.

“Is it April Fool’s Day?” one rival executive asked SNY.tv.

The executive added that “everybody” has heard the Knicks want to deal Smith.

“Of course [they want to trade him], but only an idiot would take him. Can Steve Mills trade him to himself?”

Smith took to Twitter later Thursday to apologize and hinted he might “sign off” Twitter for good: “Huge apologies to my team, to the league an most of all you the fans!#JRSmithSigningOff“

The trade rumors could be the Knicks way of scaring J.R Smith straight.  It’s pretty obvious they won’t get any takers or any good ones I should say.  Smith can’t be traded prior to Jan. 15 and he has two seasons left after this one on a three-year, $18 million contract.  Smith is shooting 34.8% overall, had knee surgery during the offseason (right after he signed his contract), missed five games after testing positive for marijuana and the list goes on.  Knicks will just have to wait and see if the scare tactic works and hope that Smith is ready to turn things back around.

– Shaina Auxilly (@Shay_Marie)