One of the more inexplicable subplots of LeBron James’ final year in Cleveland was when it was reported that J.R. Smith earned a one-game suspension for throwing a bowl of chicken tortilla soup at assistant coach Damon Jones, causing the two of them to not speak for three months, in the midst of an NBA Finals run.
More than a year later, Richard Jefferson has come out on team J.R. Smith.
Jefferson and Jones were both on ESPN’s “Get Up” with Mike Greenberg, when Jefferson explained how he found out he had been traded to the Milwaukee Bucks after having spent his entire career with the New Jersey Nets to that point. It was clearly an emotional moment for the former Net, but Jones poured salt on the wound by joking that New Jersey improved after making the trade.
ahhhhhhhhh hahahaha @Rjeff24 pic.twitter.com/mWr3zy2ouz
— Kayla Johnson (@klajohnson) June 5, 2019
The timing of the joke didn’t seem to sit well with Jefferson, who went on Twitter to point out that this is why Jones got soup thrown at him last season. Jefferson wasn’t even on Cleveland last year, but has become something of a spokesperson for all things Cavs from the second LeBron era.
If anyone was wondering why this man got soup thrown on him it’s because of absurd statements like this 😂😂🍵🤦🏽♂️.. Nets 2009 12-70 and started the season 0-18. My silence was me trying to not expose him on National TV. 😬😬 https://t.co/DMYRwLualo
— Richard Jefferson (@Rjeff24) June 5, 2019
Despite the fact that this is an excellent response from Jefferson, there is a minor quibble. New Jersey finished with an identical 34-48 record in both the season prior to trading Jefferson and the year after, 2008-09. The Nets did, however, go 12-70 in 2009-10, when they did indeed start 0-18 and certainly could have used Jefferson’s services.
