Last month, Dwayne Wade Sr., LaVar Ball and Quenton Brown (Jaylen Brown's dad) released the first episode of their new podcast, Ultimate Dads: Unplugged, which also featured Justin Tatum as a guest.
One of the topics the NBA dads discussed was what they perceived to be an attempt to divide fathers from their athlete sons once they reach the league. And all four had something say on the subject, though they didn't pinpoint who exactly was to blame.
On Thursday, we got a player's perspective on the latest episode of BET's For The Fellas. J.R. Smith, who was drafted to the NBA out of high school in 2004, gave a personal testimony of what he believed to be an effort by the league itself to separate him from his dad, who he called his best friend.
"My rookie year, he moved to New Orleans with me. ... It was great, but in that time, the league was pushing me to get rid of my dad. Get my dad out the house. Push him out. You're your own man. Two men can't stay in one cave," Smith said. "It really played a part on me to the point where me and my dad kind of separated after my first year."
"He was trying to guide me from being the wild man that I did become at some point. And the whole time, it was that, 'Hey man, get your dad out of here. Learn how to be a man on your own.' And to me, I fed right into it. We didn't have the best relationship for a couple years after that."
Smith was joined on the show by Charles Oakley, Falcons edge rusher Za'Darius Smith and Andscape journalist Justin Tinsley, who all shared their own perspectives on the alleged attempts by leagues and media outlets to push narratives of single mothers who do all the work to raise star athletes. Za'Darius Smith said there was media at his house the night he was drafted in 2015, but they all wanted to interview his mom and not his dad.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: J.R. Smith said the NBA tried to separate him from his dad after he was drafted
