J.R. Smith on potential Supreme fine: ‘S--t whack!’
The NBA season hasn’t even started yet, but J.R. Smith has already been warned that he could be fined for not covering up his Supreme logo tattoo.
Smith had the tattoo done on his right calf in August after modeling for the brand’s collaboration with Nike and the NBA earlier this year.
If he doesn’t cover up his tattoo, Smith will be fined every game. He obviously wasn’t happy with the league’s decision and let the world know with via Instagram. Smith criticized league officials for targeting him.
The Cavaliers’ veteran said the league had never made other players cover up “Jordan logos or Nike checks,” but decided to enforce the rule with his new tattoo.
He finished by flipping them off – twice.
A post shared by JR Smith (@teamswish) on Sep 29, 2018 at 11:52am PDT
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Smith would talk with the league about the rule.
An NBA official said that “NBA rules prohibit players from displaying any commercial logos or corporate insignia on their body or in their hair.”
What is Supreme?
Smith partnered with Supreme – an American skateboarding shop and clothing brand – earlier this summer.
“They felt as if I would be a perfect athlete for it. I felt that I would be too,” Smith told Complex’s Joe La Puma. “They reached out to my representation and we got the deal done. It’s a perfect fit. I love it.”
Still, the deal did not require him to tattoo himself. Smith did that because simply he wanted to.
“People were like, ‘Are they paying you for it?’ and I was like, ‘No,’ so they were like, ‘What are you doing it for?'” Smith said. “And I was like, ‘That’s who I am. That’s why I am who I am.’ It worked out.”
Kelly Oubre’s own Supreme moment
Smith isn’t the first Supreme-wearing athlete to get a warning.
Last season, Wizards forward Kelly Oubre Jr. wore a Supreme sleeve on his leg in Washington’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.
an important moment in nba history pic.twitter.com/usc5zOjSRj
— Abe Schwadron (@abe_squad) December 13, 2017
Oubre’s sleeve was said to violate the NBA’s uniform policy as stated in Article XXXVII, Section 2, Paragraph A of the league’s collective bargaining agreement:
“During any NBA game or practice, including warm-up periods and going to and from the locker room to the playing floor, a player shall wear only the Uniform as supplied by his Team. For purposes of the preceding sentence only, ‘Uniform’ means all clothing and other items (such as kneepads, wristbands and headbands, but not including Sneakers) worn by a player during an NBA game or practice. ‘Sneakers’ means athletic shoes of the type worn by players while playing an NBA game.”
A trainer told him to switch the sleeve out at halftime and Oubre was understandably confused by the entire thing.
“It had the NBA logo on it, has a Nike sign on it. The NBA is sponsored by Nike, it’s just Supreme so I don’t really know what’s the quarrel.” Oubre said. “They shouldn’t have sold it to me or they shouldn’t have dropped it if we can’t wear it and it has the NBA logo on it, because I play in the NBA right? I should be able to wear anything that has the logo of what I represent.”
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