Josh Smith took to The Players’ Tribune on Thursday to clarify comments he made about his salary last week ― comments that garnered a few eye rolls.
Smith, who signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Clippers in early July and is currently owed $5.4 million by the Detroit Pistons, caught a wave of criticism after calling his move to Los Angeles “a little harder on me this year.”
Some people were less than sympathetic toward the basketball player, who in The Players’ Tribune wrote that it’s not just money, but the challenges of heading to a new city yet again, that’s tough.
“This is my third team in less than a year. I was talking about how moving affects my family. But the headline about greed was the one everyone ran with,” Smith wrote, adding, “Let’s just look at what I actually said so we don’t get it twisted.”
His “harder” comments were interpreted as if he was complaining about making significantly less money than he had in previous contracts, which sent Twitter, and even HuffPost, into a rich-guy shaming-spree:
But Smith wrote that the challenges he faces with work are the same as any other family that's relocated for a job.
"Like any parent, you think about how your work affects your kids. You want consistency for your kids -- consistent teachers, consistent friends, a consistent home. You want some normalcy for them," Smith continued.
To Smith's credit, he didn't take offense to anything that was written or said about him. He took the high road in his rebuttal, which is what one would expect out of an 11-year NBA vet. Smith knows the ropes.
"Every athlete has had articles about them that aren’t 100 percent true. Most of the time, it’s not anyone’s fault -- it’s just the reality," he wrote.
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