J.R. Smith Drops Truth Bombs About How Athletes Should Spend Money

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Former NBA champion J.R. Smith has been retired from the league since 2020.
Smith has since gone to college at North Carolina A&T State University to earn his bachelor’s degree.
Smith recently showcased just how much he’s grown in a viral clip about how athletes should be using their money.

While J.R. Smith was largely known for his occasionally outlandish personality while in the NBA — who could possibly forget that infamous moment with LeBron James in the 2018 NBA Finals? — he seems to have become a changed man since retiring and heading off to college to earn his degree.

Perhaps nothing better epitomizes Smith’s personal growth than this recent viral clip of his discussing his regrets about how he used to spend his money and what African American athletes should be doing with their wealth.

“You know how many people’s lifestyles you can change with $10 million in our hood?” the former NBA star says in the viral clip.

“My biggest move right now is trying to change as many minds that look like us back into the Afro-centric mindset as opposed to the Euro-centric mindset. We are so trained, and it’s so embedded to have that Euro-centric mindset — that worry about myself, worry about me, worry about mine — I’m not going to help anybody else who looks like me build-up. What bank is going to turn us down? We’re about to build this whole shit out for our community. We’re gonna be gyms, rec centers, start leagues — who’s going to stop us? We got the money. We don’t have the mindset,” Smith continued.

“We’d rather go throw $60,000 in the strip club than go feed 2,500 people in the hood. I could’ve fed my whole community ten times over with the money I was just [paying fines for] being late on the bus. I was so wrapped into me, I got that Euro-centric mindset: I need this designer jacket, I need these jeans, I need this bookbag, I need to be looking like this because the vets got this, I’m pushing this car. Why? Who am I impressing? I’m not even fulfilled with me. They look up to me, so when they think ‘Oh, this is cool, this is what they say he did,’ they think that shit is cool. Look at what we’re going for: strip clubs, getting high, setting people up, killing people. Look at what we glorify. And they put millions and millions of dollars into this. Record labels put billions of dollars into this and it sells. And we still get raped off of entertainment.”

During this moment, J.R. Smith sounds like how I imagine Kyrie Irving thinks he sounds.