It takes a different kind of discipline to humble yourself when you’ve already stood at the summit with a very successful career in basketball with 2 NBA titles and a 16-year-long career. JR Smith knows the allure of luxury with private jets, championship rings, and Bentley sedans, but his decision to trade status for simplicity paints a different portrait of success when you’re trying to start a new career in another sport. At 39, the former NBA shooting guard isn’t chasing endorsement deals or front-row attention anymore. He’s walking onto golf courses as a student-athlete, blending in among 18-year-olds with backpacks and dreams, and still continuing to set examples.
Golf, for Smith, isn’t about leisure; it’s about learning and mental peace. After a career that was rigidly scheduled and running to and fro the basketball court with buzzer-beaters and press conferences dictating every move, the unpredictable solitude of golf became his new structure.
He got more than a new sport when he went to North Carolina A&T, an HBCU with strong cultural ties and academic pride. It gave him a new sense of purpose. It also gave him a new challenge: he had to fit in with a group of people he used to easily stand out from. But he is eager to learn the game from people younger than him, despite being a megastar. That challenge came into full view not on the green but in the parking lot.
“It was kind of hard pulling up to practice in a Bentley,” Smith said on No Bad Lies with Andrew Santino. “These kids are hitting the bus, and you’re pulling up in a Bentley.” The difference was too great, and Smith, who was always aware of himself, did something about it. He traded in his Bentley Flying Spur, which cost approximately more than $200,000, for a simple BMW Mini Cooper, which cost $30,000 less and felt like a reset. “That humbled you out real quick,” he said, joking about barely fitting his 6-foot-6 frame into the compact car alongside golf clubs and a single suitcase. “That’s all I could fit.”
JR on playing golf with the boys vs practicing alone #par3podcast #golf #lifestyle #stephenmalbon #jrsmith pic.twitter.com/5ox91C0ekN
— Par 3 Podcast (@Par3Podcast) January 18, 2025
Smith’s downgrade wasn’t about money; it was about his beliefs. It was about not having who he was in the past affect how he wanted to be seen now. He even revealed that they did not treat him like a basketball player or an NBA star but like a golfer, which amazed him. “They looked at me as a golfer,” he said.
Smith’s return to college was never just about books and bogeys; it was also about fixing himself and finding his new purpose and chasing the sports adrenaline and the young ones made sure to respect that. “I slowly made my way into it, but a lot of the guys and from the team and even the girls team are very like receptive of me. They’re very like humbled and appreciated that I would even do such a thing.” He revealed.
JR Smith’s New Identity Is All About Peace
It wasn’t a PR move or boredom that made him go back to a place of learning; it was a quiet stillness that got too loud. Smith was alone in his game room after winning his last NBA title with the Lakers in 2020. “I’m not playing. I should be playing,” he recalled. But instead of going in circles, he turned toward therapy, education, and rediscovery. “I always wanted to learn about my heritage, learn more about Black people. That turned into self-love… and mastering my mind.”
That mastery found structure in the classroom and resistance on the golf course. “Golf doesn’t care how tall you are, how strong you are,” he told Santino. Smith got off to a good start in one college game by birdieing two of the first three holes. But he lost his way after getting an eight and then an eleven on the 11th hole. “You got 17-, 18-year-old kids pounding it past me, shooting 67, 68 in their sleep. And I’m over here drowning over 85.”
But instead of backing away, Smith leaned in. He got tutors, studied African American history, and got a 4.0 GPA in his first year. Professors said he was hard-working, dedicated, and passionate about the subject. “He’s gone above and beyond,” said Beverly C. Grier, his race and social justice instructor. He was a role model not because of who he was, but because of who he was becoming as the Aggies’ Academic Athlete of the Year and the drive to achieve more and not being satisfied is what made him unique.
JR Smith playing golf.
From playing golf and attending classes to hosting his own golf podcast, “Par 3” he is not done yet. “Golf gives me lessons,” he said. “It gives me peace,” always chasing his ‘why’ and staying focused. And JR Smith keeps driving in his Mini Cooper, might miss his old car but wants to stay grounded, not for applause but for his purpose.
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