Which NBA player threw soup at a Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach? All you need to know
The Cleveland Cavaliers had a strange 2017-18 season. The team reached the Finals but were swept by the Golden State Warriors. However, the team had a weird environment throughout the entire season. On March 1, 2018, the Cavaliers suspended guard J.R. Smith for throwing a bowl full of soup at assistant coach Damon Jones.
The duo kept quiet about the incident until Damon Jones appeared on the "Jalen and Jacoby" podcast. Damon Jones gave his story as follows:
"For a long time, I refused to talk about the soup incident. It's okay now, we have moved on. He apologized for it. It was the bowl plus the soup. And it was the first bowl out of the pot, so it was hot as hell. I was standing and it went on my shoulder, arm, everywhere. "
Jones said he and Smith didn't speak to each other. The reconciliation happened after a back-to-back in Philadelphia. Although the incident is widespread on social media, no one knows why it happened in the first place.
Cleveland Cavaliers 2017-18 season
The Cleveland Cavaliers had a tumultuous start to their 2017-18 season. All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving requested a trade. Irving felt like he needed to lead his own team and wanted to get out of superstar LeBron James' shadow.
After consideration, the Cavaliers dealt their star point guard to the Celtics in exchange for guard Isaiah Thomas, forward Jae Crowder, center Ante Zizic and Brooklyn's 2018 first-round pick.
Thomas was still recovering from a hip injury from the previous postseason. The Cavaliers also added aging superstar Dwayne Wade to their roster. However, the former Miami Heat guard was past his prime.
Cleveland had a slow start to the regular season. They looked like an average team heading into the trade deadline. However, General Manager Koby Altman swung several trades to improve the roster.
Cleveland finished the regular season with a record of 50-32 and ended up as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Then the playoffs began, and LeBron James had arguably his greatest postseason run. LeBron led them to the Finals.
Cleveland defeated the Indiana Pacers in seven games, swept the Toronto Raptors and ended up defeating the Kyrie Irving-less Boston Celtics in seven games. LeBron had two buzzer-beaters during this run and a couple of game seven performances which will stand the test of time.
However, in the Finals, Cleveland met their match. J.R. Smith famously forgot the shot clock with the score tied in game 1 of the NBA Finals. LeBron put up 51-8-8 in that game, but the Cavaliers lost in overtime.
Cleveland looked deflated after that loss and got swept by the Warriors. Superstar LeBron James left for the Los Angeles Lakers in its aftermath as Cleveland entered into yet another rebuild.