J.R. Smith Calls Sam Dekker the Only Teammate He Ever Disliked

J.R. Smith and Sam Dekker played together for a few weeks with the Cleveland Cavaliers two years ago, but the limited amount of time was enough to convince the now two-time NBA champion that Dekker has been the only teammate he hasn’t liked during his 16-year career. 

Smith explained on the All Things Covered podcast why he and Dekker never got along. “Throughout my whole career, it’s only one teammate I really don’t like. And he know that. And everybody else, I’m just cool with,” he said, per NBC Sports. “This dude Sam Dekker, dog. I can’t – this dude. He did some bulls— on the bus one day, talking some Trump s—, and I just wasn’t having it.” 

“For what the question he asked, it’s a thought pattern. You’re taught that,” Smith continued. “It’s not like – it’s the hate you give. And I feel like it’s something you’re taught. It’s not – the privilege he has was taught to him, and he took heed of it and run with it even further than somebody who was not – who was oblivious to what they have and what the life they lived. Because some people just go through their life – not necessarily knowing, but not aware and privy to somebody else’s circumstances. He’s a person who’s just very aware of somebody else’s circumstances and want to keep them there, as opposed to try to help him elevate up. And I don’t respect anything about that.”