It’s been months in the making and they’ve known each other since 2009. C.J. Miles popped the question to his girlfriend Lauren Smith over the weekend and she said “Yes,” … but it took her a while.
“She cried. I was on my knee. The ground was hard. I asked her to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ so I could get up,” Miles recalled excitedly Wednesday after the team completed its first practice back from break.
Miles starting planning for the occasion at the beginning of January, and knew All-Star break worked well because it fell over Valentine’s Day.
“She had no idea,” Miles said.
The two met through Miles’ best friend. C.J., a Dallas native. He went to go visit him down at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi during the offseason years ago when he was playing with Utah. Lauren was on the school’s basketball team, and C.J.’s friend worked with the team.
Miles said most of his teammates knew ahead of time that he was going to propose, even their significant others. To get ideas (especially for the ring), Miles ran it by some of the guys in the locker room who were married, like Rodney Stuckey, Ian Mahinmi, and Roy Hibbert.
“I’m happy for him,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of his newly engaged player. “Just really happy for him.”
Watch below as Miles happily discusses the whole experience: