You know the tradition. The championship team that visits the White House hands the President a team jersey with his name on the back, but this year J.R. Smith wanted to do something different. The plan was for Kevin Love to hand President Obama the team jersey, and then J.R. Smith would slip him the J.R. Smith tattooed t-shirt, but it didn’t happen. Here is what happened according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin
Kevin Love said J.R. Smith originally planned to give President Barack Obama T-shirts depicting his tattoos when Love was presenting Obama with a Cavs jersey but the idea was nixed. “J.R had the Fresh Brewed Tees with the tattoos on it, so originally (LeBron James) had mentioned, ‘Kev why don’t you give him the jersey and Swish you hand him the shirts,’” Love said. “I never knew they weren’t going to let Swish do the shirts. When I heard my name called and Bron was like, ‘Kev go hand him the jersey.’ I was like, ‘What about Swish?’ It was fun. I didn’t know I was going to have to say a few words and go up there, but that was one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that I got. Got down there as quick as I could, handed him the jersey and made for a great photo op. It was a cool, organic moment.”
It’s too bad it was nixed at the last-minute, I would have loved to have seen President Obama in a tattooed J.R. Smith shirt.