JR Smith suffers knee injury; clashes with his team in China

Going to China was suppose to be good for JR Smith. He was supposed to go over there and have fun and play basketball.

However, real life caught up with the 26-year-old superstar.

Smith suffered a knee injury after going off for 20 points for the Zhejiang Golden Bulls, who were blown out by Yi Jianlian and the Guandong Southern Tigers 111-78.

While injuring his knee wasn’t bad enough, Smith has also clashed with the team’s officials over his knee injury. The Golden Bulls general manager  Zhao Bing told the Wall Street Journal that Smith declined treatment from the team and arranged treatment in Beijing instead.

"We warned him that he’s not allowed to go to Beijing without a proper medical check, he just wouldn’t listen."

Bing also took a shot at Smith by saying

"(He) is an experienced basketball player and a big name in NBA. I think he should have been aware that CBA is not an easy game to play either."

Zhao also threatened Smith on a Chinese social network and told him to return to the team or face the consequences. IN which Smith later responded ‘My main goal is to get healthy! If you can’t understand that then maybe you should pick another profession!’

No doubt this is the worst thing that could have happened to Smith, but was expected as many NBA players aren’t aware of the culture they are getting themselves into when they signed on to play overseas. Ty Lawson, as well, has had issues with his squad in Lithuania.