Stephon Marbury saves the day for JR Smith in China: NBA News
Denver Nuggets star J.R Smith joined Chinese basketball club Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls only recently, however his short tenure in the Chinese league has already provided enough drama.
The 26-year-old NBAer, who signed a one year contract with the Golden Bulls back in September, went down last weekend while playing in his first game for his Chinese team. In what appeared to be a serious knee injury, Smith limped
off the court and there were fears that his Chinese stint could come to an early end.
The team management wanted to take Smith to a nearby hospital so that the initial tests could be carried out and the extent of the damage to his knee could be assessed. However, to their surprise, Smith refused to go. However later
after the insistence of team general manager, Zhao Bing, he agreed to have an MRI in Yiwu.
However, instead of visiting the hospital Smith boarded a plane to Beijing early in the morning, much to the dismay of Zhao, who was so annoyed that he publically warned the NBA superstar with the consequences on Sina Weibo - a
Chinese networking website.
"The club has looked into the situation and we have agreed to warn J.R. about his trip to Beijing. We hope he can come back to the team as soon as possible, otherwise he will have to face the consequences." Zhao stated.
Smith responded aggressively;
"My main goal is to get healthy! If you can't understand that then maybe you should pick another profession!"
The Golden Bulls officials were reportedly so ruffled up by the response that they were considering terminating Smith’s contract.
That was where Stephon Marbury, the Chinese league veteran stepped in.
Marbury joined the Chinese league in 2010 and since then he has been a star in the circuit. And over the course of the last year or so, he has made many acquaintances. It was one of those acquaintances who helped convince the Zhejiang
Chouzhou officials to give Smith another chance. The Chinese franchise ultimately agreed on the condition that Smith apologizes for his unwarranted actions.
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