The NBA has only a limited number of roster spots to offer the best players in the entire world. While most get obsessed with the names that make up the top half of the league, there are hundreds of players fighting to keep their roster spots every season because new talent keeps coming in and replacing them.
There are many NBA veterans that were forced into retirement, not by choice but because the league started looking past them. We have seen that in the past, and we see it now with many iconic 2000s basketball players still trying to stay on a team and failing.
J.R. Smith, who was last on the 2020 Lakers and won a championship, has said that he believes players like him, Jamal Crawford, Isaiah Thomas, Nick Young, and Joe Johnson don’t get contracts because they’ve been blackballed from the league.
J.R. Smith says he, Jamal Crawford, Isaiah Thomas, Nick Young and Joe Johnson have been blackballed from the NBA.
Link below for full #ComplexVolume story and interview with J.R. Smith.
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— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) September 2, 2022
Simpson: “Do you feel like you were, I guess blackballed in a way, for lack of a better phrase when it comes to your career?”
Smith: “Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, anybody can sit here and tell you that that’s a fact. You got those 30 teams, or the top three people on each 30 team and exclude them, give me the 4 through 15th man, just the 4 through 15. Name one of them that’s better than me. I’m sitting there like, bro, I’ve worked out with these dudes. I’ve watched their GM come up to me and ask me like yo why you not playing? You know why I’m not playing. I feel like it’s a whole genre that that happened too. Joe Johnson, who obviously still got game, still plays. Jamal Crawford, still got game, still can play. Nick Young, still got game, still can play. Isaiah Thomas, still got game, still can play.” (h/t Sports Illustrated)
Are J.R. Smith’s Comments Fair?
Based on what we saw these players do the last time they were in the league, it is a stretch to say that they have intentionally been black-balled. Isaiah Thomas got multiple opportunities on different teams last season and couldn’t impress anybody enough to hold onto a contract. Joe Johnson was also on a team last year and is no longer in that position.
While there are definitely teams that could use scorers like this group, we are currently seeing Carmelo Anthony struggle to get a contract, even though there is interest in him. It would be a stretch to say any of these players would receive one before Melo.
Age is a brutal decider in the careers of pro athletes as they can be considered too old to play in their mid-30s. That’s what happened with most of these players. They can’t guard young players at a high level anymore, and that was proven by all of their last stints in the league. Development of talent is key to keeping the game progressing, so we shouldn’t get lost in the past and give these players, who already made millions in the league, an opportunity that could change the life of a talented 20-year-old who just got drafted.
