Sources: Former Knicks' Guard Chris Smith Signing With Los Angeles D-Fenders

The 2013-14 NBA season has only reached January, but it's been an eventful campaign for Chris Smith, younger brother of Knicks' swingman J.R. Smith.

The Louisville product only played all of two minutes of action while with the Knicks, prior to being released in favor of D-League big man Jeremy Tyler. The latter was let go by New York following training camp, in favor of the former.

And for that, Smith has received a lot of flack and criticism. Was he only in the NBA because of his brother, a previous "Sixth Man of the Year" winner, now in his tenth year in The Association?

Needless to say, it was an interesting reverse of fortunates for Smith and Tyler, who were minor league teammates with the Knicks-affiliated Erie BayHawks while Smith was on assignment. He averaged 11.3 points through six games with Erie, including a season-high 28 point performance on December 14th before getting called back up.

As our buddy Gino Pilato of DLeagueDigest.com reported last week, Smith had signed and been placed into the D-League Player Pool, following his Knicks departure.

With the Showcase currently underway, RidiculousUpside.com has learned through multiple sources that Smith is likely to sign with the Los Angeles D-Fenders. One source added that the team has a decent spot on the league's waiver wire order, which may have aided them in such an acquisition.

And of course, there are these tweets from Smith:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>LA bound.... New journey begins same Grind</p>&mdash; Chris Smith (@TheOnlyCSmith0) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheOnlyCSmith0/statuses/420272876571615233">January 6, 2014</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Reno bound <a href="https://twitter.com/nbadleague">@nbadleague</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23showcase&amp;src=hash">#showcase</a></p>&mdash; Chris Smith (@TheOnlyCSmith0) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheOnlyCSmith0/statuses/420638196767014912">January 7, 2014</a></blockquote>

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Smith was in Los Angeles on Monday, and was en route to Reno on Tuesday, according to his Twitter account. While it should be noted that LA. is a common stop-over destination en route to Reno from New York, his separate day trips put an end to such speculation. It's likely he went to Los Angeles prior, perhaps to pass a physical first.

The D-Fenders were scheduled to play the Tulsa 66ers in Reno on Tuesday night, but weather conditions prevented the 66ers from getting to town in time.

UPDATE (January 8th): This may instead suggest Smith is actually returning to the Erie BayHawks.