J.R. Smith took to Twitter earlier today to let the world know that he never discriminated against Jeremy Lin when they played on the Knicks together.
There have been rumors floating around of J.R. being racist towards Lin. The Brooklyn Nets point guard addressed some of those rumors in an interview with Boomer & Carton earlier this week. J.R. heard Lin mention his name and he took to social media to clarify the rumors. “I never want to entertain this topic but whoever said I am or was racist to @JLin because he was Asian is wrong on so many levels,” he tweeted. “I went to the #ESPYs to support him when all of Lin-sanity was going on stood up for him when other players knocked him down. Don’t ever in your life try and play me as racist. For someone who grew up where I did, I know a little thing about it, and it’s never ok!.”
Lin was asked about the rumor and he brought up Smith’s name. However, he did not deny or confirm having issues with his former teammate. “I’ve never spoken to J.R. about it,” he said. "So it’s hard for me because I don’t want to speculate. The one thing I will say is that race has been a huge part of my journey ever since I was a child trying to play basketball.” He says being Asian makes him get “treated differently” in the league and admitted that it can sometimes be a good thing. Lin says his Asian descent helped propel Linsanity.
Source: complex.com
