NBA player J.R. Smith charged with breaking fan’s phone

NEW YORK — NBA player J.R. Smith is facing charges he broke the cellphone of a fan who tried to take video of him in the middle of the night outside a Manhattan pizzeria.

The Cleveland Cavaliers guard, 32, turned himself to police Friday. He was released with a summons to appear in court at a later date on a misdemeanour charge of criminal mischief.

Asked to comment, the NBA champion’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said, “This is nonsense and we are not responding to nonsense.”

The charge stems from a report by a 20-year-old man from Pennsylvania who said he was on a busy block in the Chelsea neighbourhood at about 2:45 a.m. July 29 when he recognized Smith walking by and tried to record him using Snapchat, police said.