Former Cleveland Cavaliers player JR Smith riles up the crowd before the game between the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens at FirstEnergy Stadium. Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

JR Smith opens up about infamous soup-throwing incident

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated 4/13/23

JR Smith is speaking out about the time that he turned a savory meal into a high-velocity projectile.

The former NBA swingman appeared this week on “The Old Man and the Three” podcast with JJ Redick. During the episode, Smith discussed the notorious incident from his Cleveland Cavaliers tenure when he threw a bowl of soup at Cavs assistant coach Damon Jones.

“Damon Jones is my guy,” said Smith. “I love DJones. Everybody knows. But he has a knack for playing too much. I like to play a little joke here and there, but he’s consistent with it. And for me, if I’m telling you I’m not in the mood right now … I had some stuff going on at home; I wasn’t playing well. I’m like, not right now.

“Sure enough I’m in the lunch room getting my soup and he comes in, and mind you, the soup was hot. I’m like the first person in there. He’s like, trying to make me spill it. I’m not gonna lie, it took me a second because I actually thought about it. It wasn’t like a rageful throw. It was like, ‘O.K., you’re playing with me. I know you’re playing with me. I’m gonna show you.’ And I literally thought about it. And I threw it on him. And he’s over there screaming because that s--- is hot.

"I’m like, ‘See, you wanna stop playing now with me? You wanna stop playing?’”

Smith also revealed an extremely important detail — it was a bowl of chicken tortilla soup that he threw at Jones.

CONFIRMED: The soup JR Smith threw at Damon Jones in 2018 was chicken tortilla pic.twitter.com/pjEX5n1VHC

— Démar Grant (@DemarJGrant) April 13, 2023

As far as the throwable soup power rankings go, chicken tortilla has to be pretty high up on the list. It really keeps the heat with the melted cheese but also makes a big mess with all the toppings and yet still maintains maximum liquid chaos with the tomato base. If there was one type of soup to chuck to really get your message across, chicken tortilla would definitely be the one.

Smith was ultimately suspended by the Cavaliers over Soupgate (which occurred in the 2017-18 season), but the ex-Sixth Man of the Year bounced back from it to make two more NBA Finals appearances, including winning it all with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. Since he last played, Smith has also been doing a lot of really cool things (that thankfully keep him far away from the kitchen).

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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