JR Smith 'got a lot of great feedback' from NBA players after golf event
JR Smith's collegiate golf debut apparently had a lot of NBA players talking.
Smith told David Kehrli of the Burlington Times-News he received a positive response from the NBA community after competing in his first golf tournament for North Carolina A&T State this week at Elon's Phoenix Invitational. Several players, including LeBron James and Chris Paul, also expressed interest in coming out to watch Smith at a future event.
"In our group text, they were all talking about coming to an event, which would be amazing," Smith said. "I got a lot of great feedback. Chris Paul was telling me the guys were talking about it in the locker room and guys were really looking forward to it, looking for my scores. So, I got to take care of business so that when I see them, it won't be too much backlash."
The two-time NBA champion finished with a 29-over 240 for 81st place out of 84 entries at the event, which took place Monday and Tuesday. He had to contend with a swarm of hornets on the second day and admitted he was caught off guard.
"First of all, to get stung on the basketball court or in an arena never happens. That's one of the very few things that you don't got to worry about is other animals," Smith said. "When I got stung, I was just like, 'No way.' I started trying to turn it into a positive, like, 'OK, this might be like your equivalent of the (Michael Jordan) Flu Game or something like that.'"
Smith enrolled at A&T in August to pursue a degree in liberal studies.