Carmelo Anthony would like the New York Knicks to re-sign J.R. Smith this offseason.

“Without a doubt,” Anthony said Monday when asked about Smith. “J.R. is a special player. To me, and to everybody on this team, he’s made a huge step forward as a basketball player. We look forward to that, for him to come out and be focused, the way he was focused this season, win the Sixth Man of the Year, help us to win another division title, helping us to win 50-plus games. He was a big help to this team and I definitely would love him back here.”

The Knicks could be trumped by a rival team with more cap space since they can only offer the early Bird exception beginning at $4.9 million per season.