LeBron James is urging the Cleveland Cavaliers to re-sign J.R. Smith now that the team has started training camp.

The Cavaliers were in a similar situation last season with Tristan Thompson.

“I hate coming into another season – two years in a row – with one of my big guns not here. So, for a leader of a team and for me personally, I just hate to deal with this [expletive] again,” James said. “It’s just too big of a piece to our team to have to deal with in another training camp. Hopefully things get resolved fast, because you know how big and important he is to our team.”

David Griffin said the organization made “an incredibly competitive and aggressive offer” to bring back Smith.

“Negotiations are always two-sides, but J.R. did his part,” James said. “J.R. did his part. He showed up every day. Worked his ass off every day. Became a two-way player, a model citizen in Cleveland and he’s a fan favorite, obviously, we all know that. All of a sudden now he’s a season ticket-holder at the Indians’ games. You know, so. … But we just miss him. We miss having him around. He’s a big piece of our team and they just need to get it done.”

Rich Paul represents James and Smith.

The Cavaliers have the league’s second-highest payroll at nearly $118 million.

“We’re still missing a huge piece of our team. So we’re not all the way comfortable yet. Once that is resolved, hopefully soon, we can really get into what we need to do,” James said. “We still have enough talent. But we can’t become full until he’s here. But that doesn’t deter anybody or any of the guys that’s coming in to show up every day. We’re still working our tails off and everybody who is filling in has been working extremely hard through this camp so far, and we’re going to continue to do that.”