Culture

J.R. Smith Is Twitter Feuding With Olivia Harlan-Dekker After J.R. Insulted Her Husband

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We’ve got a Twitter ballyhoo brewing between J.R. Smith, Sam Dekker, and Sam’s wife, Olivia Harlan-Dekker. It all started when J.R. said that Sam Dekker was the only teammate he’s ever disliked–a bold statement, considering J.R. has played for five different NBA teams and one Chinese Basketball Association team over the course of his 17-year career. That’s a LOT of teammates, and Dekker is the only guy he didn’t like? Damn, that’s cold.

This affront rankled Sam’s wife, Olivia Harlan-Dekker, the daughter of the FANTASTIC announcer Kevin Harlan and a successful ESPN sideline reporter herself. She came to her husband’s defense with this tweet:

Ho ho ho! Shots FI-YAAAAD. “Consider the source” is hardly de-escalating language, Olivia. Them’s fightin’ words! Sure enough, J.R. took the bait. And boy, did he swing for the fences:

Whoa. Ok, before we continue, I want to make sure we’re all on the same page. That response from J.R. is very clearly an accusation, correct? He is implying that Sam Dekker, at some point, has said the N-word in his presence? At the very least, that’s a logical inference based on his tweet, correct? Just want to make sure I’m not crazy, because things are about to get very confusing.

Alright, the easy answer to Olivia’s response is that just because your husband doesn’t say that word around you doesn’t mean he’s never said it. Saying “he’s not a racist” isn’t exactly… proof. At this point, I’m still firmly on the side of J.R. Smith. Until…

Uhhhh wut. J.R… why on earth would you even bring up the N-word at all? The ONLY way that this makes sense is if Sam Dekker once asked J.R. Smith “Hey J.R., how come I can’t use the N-word?” I guess that’s possible, but it doesn’t seem like something to bring up on Twitter with his wife. Otherwise, J.R. Smith is suggesting that Olivia should offer a lesson on racial epithets to her husband, simply because? Because what? I’m stumped.

Sam Dekker had this to say:

NY Post–

Dekker, who is currently playing in the Turkish Basketball League, tweeted that he was “blindsided” by Smith’s dislike, according to Deadspin. Dekker deleted the tweet.

“Well I am just as confused as y’all,” Dekker wrote. “I’m pretty simple, I’ve never been one to get into politics. Especially ‘Trump s—.’ I’ve never been a Trump guy, so this blindsided me.”

Oh well. Here’s hoping they sort it out. My brain is too fried to make sense of all this.