Former NBA player J.R. Smith was seen fighting a man who allegedly broke into his car during the protesting in Los Angeles.
The 6’6″ shooting guard was seen on a video first revealed by TMZ Sports repeatedly kicking a man on the ground. After some bystanders step in, the man crawls free and runs away.
Smith Explains the Incident
Smith discussed the incident in a video on TMZ Sports.
“One of these motherf***king white boys didn’t know where he was going and broke my f**king window in my truck,” Smith said in the video.
Smith added that the incident was not fueled by race or hatred and that it was simply retaliation. The former NBA champion said the man broke into his car, smashing his windows, during the riots, and explains that he was parked in a residential area that was away from the stores and the majority of the protesters. However, TMZ reports that the incident was in the Fairfax area, which is near the famous Flight Club sneaker shop that had just been looted.
“I chased him down and whooped his ass,” Smith said.”…He didn’t know whose window he broke and he got his ass whooped.”
Smith’s NBA Career on Hold
November 19, 2018 was the last time Smith, who has played for four franchises in his career, was in NBA. He was on the Cavaliers in year one of the post-LBJ era and the team granted him a leave of absence after he told them that he wasn’t thrilled to be there.
The club held onto him through the 2018-19 campaign, hoping that his contract would prove to be valuable in a trade. It was not. Cleveland eventually released him over the 2019 offseason.
Our own Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson reported back in January that Smith had a workout scheduled with the Lakers. There were “no guarantees,” a source told Robinson at the time. “They want to see what he can do and if it is a fit, we’ll take it from there.”
That workout never came to fruition. Though Smith’s strong relationship with LeBron could spark something in the future.
“Unless you get LeBron’s seal of approval, I don’t know who he helps, you know,” Washington Post writer, Ben Golliver told Scoop B on his Radio Podcast.
“And I think it’s unfortunate, I think it’s a situation where there have been red flags with him that have accumulated over the course of his career. I think that sometimes there’s a risk or verse approach from front offices where they just think like: ‘look, he might be able to help us, but he can really make me look bad if things don’t go well, so I don’t wanna risk it.’ You know? So I think it takes advocacy from one of his friends, whether if it’s a Kevin Love or a LeBron James to sort of get him into a spot.”
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J.R. Smith Fights Protester After Alleged Vandalism [WATCH]