The last 48 hours have not been the highlight of J.R. Smith's career as the Knicks guard was fined by the NBA and then benched by his team without warning, leading to Smith questioning his future in New York and to speculation that a trade could be looming.
"Honestly, I don't even know at this point. At one point I was for sure, and now it's rocking the boat," Smith said of his future via ESPN. "But it is what it is. It's the nature of the business."
Smith was fined $50,000 by the league on Wednesday for "recurring instances of unsportsmanlike conduct" stemming from him untying his opponent's shoelaces during recent games. The Knicks responded on Thursday by benching Smith without warning during the team's 102-92 win over the Miami Heat.
Smith admitted he showed up to Madison Square Garden prepared to play and wasn't warned by coach Mike Woodson that he was being benched. ESPN reports that Woodson wouldn't comment as to why he decided to bench Smith.
"I think that's the most misleading part of it," Smith said per ESPN. "I could see if I was told, but there was no conversation about it. But it is what it is. We got the [win]."
When asked if he thought that the fine by the NBA for his antics was steep, Smith whole-heartedly believed that it was.
"In my eyes, yeah," Smith said, according to ESPN. "The first time it was done, everybody thought it was hilarious. The second time it was done, it wasn't really done. But at the end of the day it is what it is"
Smith was penalized from the league for two instances of untying his opponents' shoelaces. The first came on Sunday when he untied the shoes of Shawn Marion in the second quarter of the Knicks 92-80 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Following a warning from the league to refrain from doing it again, Smith ignored them and attempted to untie the shoes of Greg Monroe from the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday during the Knicks' eventual 89-85 win.
The league got the last laugh, having Smith empty out his pockets to the tune of $50,000.
"It was a joke, but a joke gone wrong," Smith told ESPN. "They warned me, but it wasn't one of those warnings where you go, 'Oh, damn,'" Smith said. "It was one of those warnings where you really don't know the outcome of it."
While Woodson wouldn't address the benching of Smith, 28, and his status before and after the game, he came off as angry on an ESPN radio program when discussing the Smith situation.
"I'm not happy about this because he was warned, he comes back, and he makes the same mistake, and it's not right," Woodson said via ESPN. "It's just got to stop. I keep saying this every time something pops up, but it's got to stop."
Woodson added that Smith has been "unprofessional about how he's approached this whole thing. Something's gotta be done. It has to stop. I'll address it tomorrow when I see him, and then we'll go from there."
Smith, who is shooting just 32.3 percent from the field and has averaged 11.3 points in 29 games one year after winning the Sixth Man Award, wasn't sure if he'd be playing when the Knicks take on the 76ers on Saturday. Not only is Saturday questionable, but his future in New York is as well as the Knicks are getting tired of his antics.
Smith can't be traded until Jan. 15 since the Knicks are over the salary cap and his three-year $18 million extension heading into this season may make it tough for the Knicks to deal him.
Still, with the growing discontent towards the forward, the Knicks may be looking to ship him out of town so they will no longer have to deal with his antics being detrimental to the team.
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