The New York Knicks have begun exploring their options in trading away J.R. Smith.

Smith was fined $50,000 on Wednesday for repeated unsportsmanlike behavior on the court.

Smith signed a four-year, $24.7 million contract in the offseason with the Knicks.

Smith cannot be traded before Jan. 15 and have privately acknowledged that it would be difficult to deal him.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Knicks are trying to get Smith in line with leaking talk of exploring a trade.