Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 at 10:40 am  |  43 responses

Report: JR Smith Was Fined Over $1 Million By His Team in China


JR Smith’s time in the Chinese Basketball Association, not too surprisingly, was fraught with all sorts of drama. Smith also, reportedly, lost out on quite a bit of money. From NIUBBALL (via NetEase): “According to a report published by NetEase, Smith had US $1.06 million deducted from his salary over the course of the season for missing practices. Most of the missed practices came during pre-season while his team, Zhejiang Chouzhou, was getting ready for the start of the regular season. The sum was deducted from his salary, a final number that represented about one-third of his total salary. Zhejiang Chouzhou general manager, Zhao Bing, said that the team was simply enforcing a clause in Smith’s signed contract and that the team gave him ample warning throughout. ‘This was the arrangement when he came to the team,’ said Zhao. ‘Every practice we let him know. If he expressed to us that he wasn’t going to come to practice, we’d tell him that in accordance with our contract, we’re deducting money from your salary. And he’d always get back to us with, ‘Whatever. If you’re going to take it, then just take it.’ The article adds that Zhao Bing repeatedly told J.R. about the seriousness of the situation, but that he continued with the attitude that it was an unimportant issue for him. Smith finished the season as the CBA’s top scorer, averaging 34.4 points per game.”

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  • Well DAYUM Posted: Feb.22 at 10:53 am
    No way he’s paying that

  • Max Posted: Feb.22 at 10:58 am
    How did he do with all his trip dub’s?

  • James Posted: Feb.22 at 11:12 am
    Practice? We talkin ’bout practice?

  • Boing Dynasty Posted: Feb.22 at 11:14 am
    Paying 1.6 not to practice with your scrub team mates, and then comming out and wrecking the league anyways is Boss movments

  • Pais Posted: Feb.22 at 11:25 am
    ^insanely boss

  • niQ Posted: Feb.22 at 11:32 am
    lol@Boing.

  • fruizm Posted: Feb.22 at 11:42 am
    @James…..enough of that already haha! Its not that funny anymore.

  • Sean B Posted: Feb.22 at 11:55 am
    “Paying 1.6 not to practice with your scrub team mates, and then comming out and wrecking the league anyways is Boss movments ” Comment of the year.

  • Allen Iverson Posted: Feb.22 at 12:00 pm
    why is this “boss”? why is this celebrated? honor your contract, show some professionalism and go to practice.

  • Darksaber Posted: Feb.22 at 12:07 pm
    Running to China to make a quick (and seemingly easy) buck then being to lazy to earn that cash, pretend to not care about the amount lost and then leave early, so boss.
    JR is an idiot, not just on the court apparently.

  • Mr.Wang Posted: Feb.22 at 12:07 pm
    that “BOSS” they speak of is RICK ROSS *grunts*

  • 1982 Posted: Feb.22 at 12:33 pm
    He doesn’t have to “return” it if they just never give it to him.

  • spit hot fiyah Posted: Feb.22 at 12:35 pm
    lol at boing and @ well dayum, it’s probably not about him paying, more like him never seing that money on the first place

  • Kadavour Posted: Feb.22 at 12:43 pm
    how could one be so callous with those kinds of earning opportunities? JR is a child. and stupid one at that.

  • Paul H Posted: Feb.22 at 12:45 pm
    Considering the fact that money was the single thing which drove him there, It was a pretty stupid move.

  • The NUPE Posted: Feb.22 at 12:49 pm
    I hope that whatever he was doing during practice time was worth $1.6M. I also hope that he’s not reported to be broke 10 years from now. I don’t have a problem with him missing these practices as long as he lived up to /accepted the contract being enforced. Which it appears he didn’t have a problem being docked the $1.6M – if it was in his contract then he had the ‘right’ not to show. What I do have a problem with is the perceived ‘arrogance’ and how ‘bad’ he makes American basketball players look from a ‘professional’ standpoint. Sure he can ball, but when you’re an American in another country, you represent more than just yourself. Also, to have this kind of arrogance over this kind of money when so many folks are out of work. Just not good.

  • Ldub Posted: Feb.22 at 12:55 pm
    If Im reading this correctly, the money was already deducted from his salary. Which means he never even saw it? So how are people saying that “he would never pay that?” I think Smith was looking for a way out. A way to get back to USA. However China made him play the season. Good move for the Chinese. Now that is BOSS! Not letting someone do what they want to do, not letting them out of their contract AND taking a Mil from them is a real BOSS move!

  • bike Posted: Feb.22 at 1:17 pm
    JR hated to practice because he said they were like Chinese Fire Drills.

  • BP Posted: Feb.22 at 2:10 pm
    Immature headcase. Day 1 to now. Will never start on a playoff team.

  • DerekG Posted: Feb.22 at 2:28 pm
    JR is nuts! @ The Nupe…how many things can you think of that JR would be capable of doing that would pay him 1.6m that didn’t involve a basestball? And I agree with you…if he’s broke in 10 years I really hope he doesn’t expect sympathy and a handout. You have to like the fact that dude dropped 35ppg without practising but imagine if he actually did!

  • Pais Posted: Feb.22 at 2:41 pm
    Ok, so perhaps it isn’t the smartest or most responsible thing to do, sure. Is he the ideal role model for the kids? Probably not. All the same, there’s something about turning the nose up at 1.6 mil that I somehow admire. Money ain’t everything folks. The fact that most people work incredibly hard without ever even having the opportunity to see that kind of cash isn’t a factor. He honored contract, and sounds like he produced so it’s nobodies business but his own. Great deal for the team, who only had to pay 1/3 of the contract and still got 34+ pts a night.

  • LP Posted: Feb.22 at 2:44 pm
    do you guys read? they money is long gone, they took it out of his checks…He never had it to pay them! they took it! he’ll need in his 2nd year of retirement/Iverson-ment…

  • ml0405 Posted: Feb.22 at 4:32 pm
    Dudes a cancer. Any chance that the knicks are gonna go deep, (never mind actually win) in the playoffs is out the door. Its a shame with all the hype they’re getting right now. Haven’t seen anything positive in NY for a good decade so lets sign the biggest chucker in the free world. Correct me if I’m wrong…don’t they already have 2 scorers, a big man, a descent PG…even a solid backup PG if Davis ever comes back. Best thing they could have done is thrown Davis on the wing. Knicks need a shooter not a scorer.

  • Red Posted: Feb.22 at 6:11 pm
    A million that would’ve fed impoverished children.

  • Ugh Posted: Feb.22 at 6:26 pm
    @Pais: I think if he’d honoroued his contract he wouldn’t have been fined for not practicing.

  • hemlock09 Posted: Feb.22 at 7:45 pm
    +1 boingdynasty

  • Alf Posted: Feb.22 at 7:56 pm
    haha at “boss movements”

  • Top$helf Posted: Feb.22 at 8:02 pm
    His life his money get ova it jus hope it dnt spoil opportunities for otha guys tht really need ta go overseas

  • dma Posted: Feb.22 at 8:26 pm
    his behind the back dunk in the dunk contest in denver was still underrated.

  • unf*ckwitable Posted: Feb.22 at 9:29 pm
    It was 1.06m not 1.6m…

  • Cameron Posted: Feb.22 at 10:44 pm
    You don’t need to practice WHEN YOU’RE THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WHOLE DAMN LEAGUE over in China…lol 34.4 ppg. Any incentives included in that contract?

  • TheKid Posted: Feb.22 at 11:27 pm
    This guy should have gone to college. Apparently 1.06mil isnt worth donkey dick these days. Cmon boi….

  • TheKid Posted: Feb.22 at 11:30 pm
    I just thought of something better. This situation is like someone telling JR that they will give him 1.06mil to go and ball at the local mental retardation center for 3 hours and his reply is “thats not worth it. those N***** suck” SMDFH

  • Teddy-the-Bear Posted: Feb.22 at 11:45 pm
    Let’s not get it twisted, 34 ppg is nice but Starbury is still the best player in the Chinese league. Not Earl Smith.

  • str8 from samoa Posted: Feb.23 at 12:32 am
    da man dosent need to go practice! hes a funkin star!

  • BallisLove Posted: Feb.23 at 1:38 am
    I wish he went to chicago

  • Justin G. Posted: Feb.23 at 3:33 am
    So Cameron, by that rationale Michael Jordan never had to practice? Lebron James doesn’t have to practice now, just because they were/are the best players in the league. That’s beyond dumb. Contracts aren’t just for games people. It’s for practices, flights, bus rides, everything that has to do with the team during the season. I hope he does go broke after his career. Serves him right for being such an idiot

  • Pais Posted: Feb.23 at 3:59 am
    @Ugh – contract stipulates that if you don’t practice you get financially penalized…he didn’t practice and he got penalized, both sides in agreement, no breach of contract thus, contract honored.
    @Red – unfortunately those impoverished children were never going to see that cash regardless of JR’s actions. Might as well talk about the 100′s of billions of dollars needlessly pissed away each year in military spending, it’s enough to buy all your impoverished kids Bentleys.

  • Justin G. Posted: Feb.23 at 7:19 am
    Also, how is it nobody’s business but his own? How about his teammates? There’s probably enough of a language barrier as it is but how about respect for your teammates who actually care about how well the team is playing and want to get better? The guy is a selfish jackass. Good luck New York

  • Andy M Posted: Feb.23 at 9:07 am
    It not news he is a knucklehead; they knew that when they signed him. And that’s why the clause was in the contract.

  • ClydeSays Posted: Feb.23 at 12:40 pm
    Wow. He’s gonna want to have that back when he’s playing for the vet minimum, jumping from team to team…

  • Meekospark » J.R. Smith’s Chinese team fined him more than $1 million Posted: Feb.24 at 10:42 am
    [...] him more than $1 million over the course of his employment. From Jon Pastuszek at NIUBBALL.com (via SLAM):  Source:  [...]

  • EC Posted: Feb.25 at 11:42 am
    This is really unfortunate if it is true since it not only reflects wrongly on him but Americans period. Those teams in China already have a limit on how many foreigners can play for a single team and this could only sway teams to not sign guys from the US just because they fear all of them will behave this way. Besides that, you should always honor your contract. Professionalism and character can take you a long way.

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