New York Knicks guard J.R. Smith has been fined $25,000 for directing hostile and inappropriate language toward the Detroit Pistons' Brandon Jennings via his Twitter account, the league announced Friday.
On Wednesday, Jennings sent out the following tweet, which was later deleted: "Wait wait wait JR smith brother is in the NBA but @PoohJeter & @BBROWNLAU isn't. Call me hater but not Rollin!!!"
J.R. Smith responded with a tweet later that night appearing to threaten to send his "street homies" to Detroit, presumably to confront Jennings. Smith also wrote that he had "no respect" for Jennings because of the apparently disparaging comments directed at Smith's younger brother, Knicks guard Chris Smith.
No respect for these lil kids who pop at the mouth on twitter an then want to delete they tweets! #GrowUp! #ManUp! @TheOnlyCSmith0 #Facts!
— JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) November 14, 2013
J.R. Smith said Thursday night he didn't mean to threaten Jennings and that he was simply defending his younger brother.
"Threaten? No. There's a way to threaten somebody, and that's not the way to publicly threaten somebody," Smith said.
Smith has gotten into trouble on Twitter in the past. In March 2012, he was fined $25,000 by the league for posting "inappropriate pictures" of a seminude woman on his account.
"I'm always in trouble with Twitter," Smith said. "I don't know what it is. I'm trying to shake it."
Smith added that he is considering taking a hiatus from Twitter.
Knicks coach Mike Woodson said on ESPN New York 98.7 FM's "The Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco Show" on Friday that he met with J.R. Smith and Chris Smith before Thursday's game to discuss the incident.
"You can't keep putting yourself in that position," Woodson said he told Smith. "It's going to come a time when you keep doing it (and) eventually no team is going to want to deal with you. You got to learn from it. Those are the things where I'm trying to get this young man to do."
