J.R. Smith surrenders to NYPD on criminal mischief charges

The Cavs guard turned himself in on Friday.

The next step in the J.R. Smith cell phone situation has occurred as the Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard turned himself in to the NYPD on Friday.

Smith will now have to go before the court to face charges of criminal mischief. Smith is responding to the charge that he allegedly grabbed and threw a cell phone from somebody into a nearby construction site.

Today’s events were first reported by TMZ Sports:

Now, we’ve learned Smith appeared at an NYPD station in Chelsea early Friday morning where he was charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief and issued a desk appearance ticket to appear in court at a later date.

We spoke with Smith’s attorney, Alex Spiro, who tells us, “This is nonsense, and we aren’t responding to nonsense. He was issued a ticket.”

At this point, the date for the court hearing has not been announced publicly. Criminal mischief is typically a misdemeanor crime in the United States, so the potential ramifications for this charge shouldn’t have a major impact on his availability for the 2018-19 NBA season.