National Basketball Association

Report: JR Smith sues Chinese team

Published Jun. 21, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

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Knicks guard JR Smith is disputing he missed 80 practices with his Chinese team — virtually all of them — in a lawsuit filed with FIBA to recoup the $1,078,500 withheld from his salary.

In the complaint, obtained by The Post, a four-page list of other alleged transgressions depict a player who had blatant disregard for the Zhejiang Chouzhou rules during his short tenure.

Smith did not attend a series of pregame team meetings and took trips to Shanghai, Beijing and the United Kingdom during practice days without telling the club.

Every missed practice was denoted by date from Oct. 25, 2011-Feb. 15, 2012.

The Chinese team also alleged it requested Smith's sister Stephanie be sent home to the US, claiming she was "abusive" and "the root" of Smith missing virtually every practice because she had him take her shopping.

The case will be ruled upon in the coming weeks by a FIBA arbitrator in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Chinese team, which claims in documents Smith "breached" his contract, has until Monday to answer Smith's complaint. The contract states FIBA would rule on a dispute.

Smith was scheduled to make $2.88M — signing Sept. 13 during the NBA lockout. The Chinese club agreed to pay all his taxes. The complaint alleges Smith received just $1.82 million of his wage and didn't pay him $18,500 in bonuses based on victories.

Smith's offcourt behavior has been an issue in the NBA, but the Knicks are leaning toward bringing him back even if he opts out by Tuesday's deadline and becomes a free agent July 1.