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The NBA is a brotherhood.
At any given time, there are about 450 players in the world who understand what you’re going through, and it allows you to create a special bond. Of course, most players are super competitive, but some just straight up don’t get along. In a recent appearance on the All Things Covered podcast with Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden, JR Smith revealed the one player he didn’t like during his long career.
The two-time NBA champ has been in the league for 17 years and was drafted by the Denver Nuggets, played with the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and now the Los Angeles Lakers says the one player he didn’t like was Sam Dekker. The 26-year-old was drafted by the Rockets in 2015, and before taking his talents overseas, he also had stints with the Cavs and Washington Wizards. That means that the only time the two played together was for four months in Cleveland, and he must have rubbed Smith the wrong way in that short amount of time.
Around the 35:40 mark, Smith touches on the topic but doesn’t reveal Dekker’s exact remarks
“This dude Sam Dekker, dog. I can’t – this dude. He did some bullsh-t on the bus one day, talking some Trump sh-t, and I just wasn’t having it. For what the question he asked, it’s a thought pattern. You’re taught that. It’s not like – it’s the hate you give,” he explained to Peterson and McFadden. “And I feel like it’s something you’re taught. It’s not – the privilege he has was taught to him, and he took heed of it and run with it even further than somebody who was not – who was oblivious to what they have and what the life they lived. Because some people just go through their life – not not necessarily knowing, but not aware and privy to somebody else’s circumstances and wanna keep him there as opposed to trying to help him elevate up, and I don’t respect anything about that.”
Now a player for Turk Telekom, Dekker only spend four years in the NBA, and if other players also didn’t vibe with him well, it could very well be the reason he’s overseas now. Dekker has yet to respond to Smith’s comments.
