J.R. Smith must be making his family proud.
The reigning Sixth Man of the Year spent Wednesday night defending his little brother and appeared to threaten Brandon Jennings on Twitter after the Detroit Pistons guard became the latest person to criticize whether the never-used Chris Smith should even be in the NBA.
According to ESPN, Jennings posted the following tweet, which was later deleted:
“Wait wait wait JR smith brother is in the NBA but @PoohJeter & @BBROWNLAU isn’t. Call me hater but not Rollin!!!”
Following the Knicks’ win over the Hawks, J.R. fired back with a tweet (also deleted), in which he said he would send his “street homies” to Detroit, according to ESPN.
Smith then wrote:
Jennings downplayed the incident.
Chris, whose spot on the roster is believed to have been secured because of a package deal by the Knicks in re-signing his big brother to a contract in the offseason, said he was not going to get into a “twitter war” or play “kid games.”
Smith, who hasn’t registered one minute of playing time this season and is slated to head to the D-League on Nov. 22, is apparently amused by the belief that his brother is the only reason he’s in the NBA, though coach Mike Woodson acknowledged J.R.’s presence influenced the team to keep Chris.
“If they hate then let them hate and watch the money pile up‼️ everyone have a blessed day from yours true.. jr smiths brother lmao…”
Due to the new collective bargaining agreement, Chris is costing the Knicks roughly $2 million –his $491,000 minimum contract and $1.6 million in luxury tax — as the 15th man on the team. He is also preventing the Knicks from acquiring a much-needed inside presence with Tyson Chandler out for at least a month with a fractured right fibula. Chris’ contract is guaranteed for the season.