J.R. Smith admits he delayed his knee surgery so that he could sign his three-year, $18 million contract with the New York Knicks, instead of undergoing the procedure and potentially hurting his value.

"For one, I'm a father and I have two young children to look after," Smith said. "It made more sense for my family to get a deal done before [surgery]."

The surgery, a patellar tendon repair and an arthroscopy for a tear in the lateral meniscus of his left knee, is expected to sideline Smith through training camp.

"Without a doubt, the best part about it was we had the support of the team," Smith said. "The team supported us, the [team doctor] supported us all on the decision. At the end of the day it was more of a family decision than anything else."

Devin Harris will get the boot off his surgically repaired left toe on Thursday, and that is when the Dallas Mavericks' guard expects to learn of his timetable for a return.

"I feel fine,'' Harris said on Monday. "But everything's on hold until Thursday."

Harris signed a one-year, $1.3 million contract with the Mavericks in July.

Amar'e Stoudemire underwent a surgical procedure in July to repair one of his ailing knees, according to a team source.

It marked the third surgery in 12 months for the New York Knicks' forward, whose offseason did not include much basketball. The surgery in July was described as a "clean up" and is not considered serious.

The secrecy surrounding Stoudemire's latest health issue could be an indication that the club is not optimistic that they can rely on the veteran power forward.

Stoudemire appeared in just 29 games last season and had debridement surgeries on both of his knees, the right knee in October and the left in March.

Otto Porter recently suffered a right hip flexor during a pickup game and was sidelined for the Washington Wizards' first day of practice on Saturday.

Porter added the injury is not major and that he is day-to-day.

“No moving. Keep that to a minimum,” Porter said. “It occurred recently, you know, just playing. Something just twist[ed]. But nothing major, though. I’m going to take it day by day, see how it feels.”

Bradley Beal advised Porter that he should not rush back from the injury.

“He can’t really do anything cause he’s injured and we have to accept that. He has to accept it and not try it rush back,” Beal said. “That’s the last thing he should want to do, just come back when he’s ready cause he’s going to have plenty of time."

The Minnesota Timberwolves announced Friday that Chase Budinger has sustained a cartilage injury to his left knee.

Budinger will visit Dr. James Andrews next week, and Flip Saunders mentioned Budinger could miss six to eight weeks while not wanting to put an exact timetable.

Budinger missed most of last season with a similar injury.

Russell Westbrook is not promising when he will return to the Oklahoma City Thunder lineup, but he is sure that he will come back as an improved player even after knee surgery.

“I'm going to come back and be better,” Westbrook said.

“I tried taking it one day at a time and not (worry about) the timetable. Just take it one day at a time and try to find a way to strengthen myself and make sure I'm ready to go when it's time.”

Westbrook has not yet been cleared to resume full basketball activities, and neither he nor team officials are providing a timetable for when that final obstacle will be overcome.

“We expect him to take part in parts of camp and work his way through different parts until he's ultimately cleared for unrestricted activity,” Sam Presti said. “But it's all going to be contingent upon how his body reacts to the additional load that he'll be carrying.”

The Orlando Magic do not have a timetable on the return of Glen Davis, who has been recovering from foot surgery.

"He’s progressing on schedule and he is progressing slowly," Rob Hennigan said. "And that’s by design. One thing that we want to make sure of is that when Glen does come back we don’t want him to re-aggravate that foot. So we’re being very cautious and very vigilant in how he is preparing. He is moving along as scheduled but we still don’t have a firm timetable yet to when he will return.’’

Davis was reportedly expected to resume basketball activities by the end of the month.

Davis underwent surgery in July to replace a screw, following up on his initial surgery in January.

Los Angeles Lakers' trainer Gary Vitti has been surprised by how smart Kobe Bryant has been in recovering from a torn Achilles in regards to his patience.

Bryant remains a few weeks away from returning to basketbal-related activities.

"I thought he was going to be worse with pushing, pushing, pushing,” Vitti said of Bryant. “But he’s been very, very smart about the entire process.”

Brook Lopez said on Saturday his surgically repaired right foot is completely healthy.

"It's great, it's back to 100 percent," Lopez said. "I'm out there doing everything."

Lopez, 25, had the screw in his right foot replaced in late June because it was bent.

Lopez is coming off of a career year for the Brooklyn Nets in 2012-13, averaging 19.4 points and 6.9 rebounds.

"We just want to win, that's the bottom line," he said of the Nets.

Ryan Kelly signed a one-year, non-guaranteed contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Kelly has dealt with foot problems in recent years and will not be ready for the start of training camp with the Lakers.

Kelly, a 6-11 forward out of Duke, was selected by the Lakers in the second round (48th overall pick) in the 2013 NBA draft.