The NBA will suspend J.R. Smith for violating the league's substance abuse policy, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Frank Isola of the New York Daily News adds (via Twitter) that the suspension will be for five games, and the NBA has confirmed the news in a press release.
As Isola notes (on Twitter), a five-game suspension, which is identical to the one facing Terrel Harris of the Blazers, would suggest a positive test for marijuana. According to Isola, Smith didn't test positive for a performance-enhancing drug, which would result in a more severe penalty — generally a 20-game suspension.
Smith's status for the start of the season was already in doubt, due to offseason knee surgery, and he'll now miss an additional five games once he's healthy. While missing time with an injury won't affect Smith's pay, the five-game suspension will cost him a small portion of his $5.565MM salary for the 2013/14 season.
Its just a little bit of bud. I dont get why it matters. stop acting like beasley murdered somebody. its completely ridiculous. Also, its not even like he had a ton of it either…it was 1 joint! I’m sick of people calling others pathetic over something as miniscule as this.
amen