MARCH 2, 9:34am: According to a report from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Dave McMenamin, Smith received his suspension after throwing a bowl of soup at assistant coach Damon Jones. Smith, who served his one-game ban on Thursday night, will return to Cleveland’s starting lineup on Saturday.
MARCH 1, 5:20pm: According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link), head coach Tyronn Lue told reporters that “something happened after shootaround” today, leading to the decision to suspend Smith. Hood will start at shooting guard today, with Smith regaining his starting job on Saturday, per Lue.
MARCH 1, 5:10pm: The Cavaliers have suspended J.R. Smith for one game for conduct detrimental to the team, the club announced today in a press release.
Word of the suspension broke just two hours before the Cavaliers are scheduled to host the Sixers in Cleveland. Smith will serve his suspension tonight, so he won’t be available for that game vs. Philadelphia.
With Smith sidelined, Kyle Korver, Rodney Hood, and Jordan Clarkson are among the Cavs who could see a few extra minutes of action.
Smith’s one-game ban will cost him $94,897, 1/145th of his $13.76MM salary for the season. However, Cleveland won’t get any tax relief, since the suspension is coming from the team rather than the league, ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter).
Seriously this guy is just mentally shot and done I know it was hard to trade him by the trade deadline because of his bad contract but if I’m the cavs I’m looking to trade him in the off-season if LeBron stays and they have to add the Brooklyn pick I’m looking at either Kent bazemore or evan Fournier
Of those three players, JR Smith has the best contract. He’s signed through next year for $14.7m with a partial $3.8m guarantee for 2019. Kent Bazemore will make $18m next year with a $19m player option for 2019 (and I doubt he’d make that much on the open market). Evan Fournier will make $17m the next two years with another $17m player option for 2020. And the difference between them isn’t worth the Brooklyn pick. Evan Fournier might be the best and most consistent offensive performer of the three, but is probably the worst defensive one. Kent Bazemore is probably the best defensive option, but he hasn’t done anything offensively. JR Smith is without a doubt the streakiest of the three, but is the better overall player. His offense comes and goes, but when he’s hot he can shoot the lights out. And defensively he’s solid if unspectacular.
No soup for you! Seriously – that ended up being a $100k bowl of soup!
That’s funny.
This guy is a loose cannon. I’ve seen him practice half court shot a while the rest of the team is seriously warming up before games. Same guy who once bought an armored truck to drive around after he signed his contract with the Knicks awhile ago. A poor clubhouse player with the wrong attitude. And that’s most likely the reason teams weren’t interested in him when the Cavs were trying to move him.
How about those Cavs. Always a soup opera.
I suspect Jones was relaying the news that Hood would be starting the next game. I prefer that but it didn’t work vs Philly!