Former NBA champion J.R. Smith was arrested in North Texas after police say an automatic license plate reader alerted an officer to a vehicle connected to an active warrant. The Royse City Police Department said Smith was driving eastbound on Interstate 30 on Monday, September 28, when an officer’s in-car system generated the alert at approximately 2:45 p.m.
Officers stopped the vehicle, identified Smith and confirmed a warrant issued by the Southlake Police Department for a charge listed as assault causing bodily injury involving family violence, according to FOX 4. Smith was taken to the Hunt County Detention Center, while his brother, who was traveling with him, took possession of the vehicle, TMZ reported.
Authorities have released little information about the allegation that led Southlake police to obtain the warrant. Police have not publicly identified the alleged victim, described that person’s relationship to Smith or detailed the injuries alleged in the case, and Southlake police told local reporters Tuesday that the investigation remained ongoing.
Early reports said Smith, 41, remained in jail without bond, but that status changed later Tuesday. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported, citing updated jail records, that Smith posted a $5,000 bond after his booking. Smith has not been convicted of the charge,.
A License Plate Reader Alert Led Police to Smith
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Former NBA champion J.R. Smith arrested for assault in Texas.
What we know: https://t.co/O0SGyAGeSk pic.twitter.com/j2YH4BC517
— TMZ (@TMZ) September 29, 2026
Royse City police said the arrest began when an officer’s in-car automatic license plate reader detected a vehicle associated with a wanted person traveling eastbound through the city.
FOX 4 reported from the department’s account that the alert came at about 2:45 p.m., after which the officer conducted a traffic stop and confirmed that Smith had an active Southlake warrant.
The warrant listed the offense as family violence assault causing bodily injury. Reuters reported that Royse City police made the arrest on the Southlake warrant and that authorities had not released further details about the underlying incident.
Smith Won Two NBA Championships During a 16-Season Career
Smith entered the NBA directly from St. Benedict’s Prep when the New Orleans Hornets selected him with the 18th overall pick of the 2004 draft. He went on to play for the Hornets, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers across a career that lasted through the 2019-20 season.
NBA.com lists Smith as a two-time NBA champion and the 2012-13 Sixth Man of the Year, with career averages of 12.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists. He won his first title with Cleveland in 2016, when the Cavaliers erased a 3-1 NBA Finals deficit against Golden State, and earned his second with the Lakers in the 2020 Orlando bubble.
That Lakers run was Smith’s final NBA season. His career afterward took an unusual turn away from professional basketball when he enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University and became a collegiate golfer.
Smith Graduated From North Carolina A&T Earlier This Year
View this post on Instagram
Smith enrolled at North Carolina A&T in 2021 after bypassing college for the NBA nearly two decades earlier. The school’s athletics records list him as a fifth-year member of the men’s golf team for the 2025-26 season, completing a college career that began when he joined the Aggies as a freshman golfer.
He graduated in May 2026 with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Applied Cultural Thought. North Carolina A&T’s official commencement coverage included Smith among its spring graduates, while the university’s academic materials identify Applied Cultural Thought as one of its Liberal Studies concentrations. Smith marked the milestone publicly on Instagram after completing the five-year journey.