Well, the other shoe has dropped.
Knicks guard J.R. Smith was fined $50,000 for what the NBA termed “recurring instances of unsportsmanlike conduct” in a Wednesday announcement, stemming from Smith’s shoelace-untying antics in the team’s past two games.
Smith initially was let off with a warning after the league investigated him for untying the shoelace of the Mavericks’ Shawn Marion during a free-throw attempt in Sunday’s game in Dallas. Then he was back at it Tuesday, trying the shoelace trick again — but the Pistons’ Greg Monroe successfully avoided it.
“He was warned, he comes back and he makes the same mistake, and it’s not right,” coach Mike Woodson said Wednesday on ESPN radio. “I’m going to address it tomorrow when he comes in for work, because it’s unacceptable. It’s unprofessional. That’s the only [two words] I can use. You just can’t do that.”
The mercurial swingman, who is averaging 11.3 points on miserable 34.8 percent shooting, was previously fined $25,000 by the NBA in November for directing “hostile” Twitter posts at Detroit’s Brandon Jennings.
