Athletes never fail to amuse us with the superstitions or strange beliefs that keep them going, but JR Smith may have taken superstition a little over the top. In a recent interview, Smith reflected on his latest string of problems, and he related them all back to a single event that happened in the 2013 postseason. CBS Sports reports that Smith thinks bad karma for elbowing Jason Terry during the series against Boston has gotten him down in luck lately.
“I think [the elbow against Boston] probably [ticked] the NBA gods off. When you mess with the game of basketball, the game gets you back. And it definitely got me back.”
While superstition is all well and good, JR failed to mention that maybe the fluid buildup in his knee that was discovered after the Knicks season was over may have contributed to his problems. Let’s also not forgot that superstition didn’t force JR to take drugs either, but that’s neither here nor there in Smith’s mind. Between JR’s constant partying throughout the playoffs coupled with knee injuries, there is a slight chance that JR was suffering from something other than bad karma. However, if you want to be really technical and say maybe he does have bad karma, how can you explain the three-year $18 million contract that the Knicks gave him over the summer? Surely bad karma wouldn’t fork over a boatload of cash to JR as a means of misery.