UPDATE via  NBA247365

My online translator didn’t do a perfect job, but I’ve gathered from this Sina Sports article that JR will be just fine.  From the translated version…

After knowing this result, JR Smith also indicated during the interview: “I felt that now was much better, doctor told me, my injury is not very serious, I felt that I…can restore very quickly… Then I will return to Zhejiang immediately with the team…, I hope that will continue to [play] this season for Zhejiang.”

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It was only a matter of time before a big time NBA star got injured while playing in another league during the lockout.  The first casualty seems to have taken place in China, and J.R. Smith seems to be on the receiving end.   While playing in a CBA game, J.R. Smith came down akwardly on his knee and had to leave the game  in obvious pain.  No word yet on the extent of the injury but reports state that he  needed to be carried to an ambulance by his teammates.  NBA players considering playing overseas are definitely going to have second thoughts now seeing what happened to J.R. Smith, if they haven’t had them already.  It is unfortunate that an injury may just be the beginning of a very strong bargaining chip for NBA owners.  The Nuggets organization can’t be happy right now.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”390″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5ZOQ7bUOqM[/youtube]

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video via @jose3030