If you haven’t seen the latest joke in the NBA, let me be the first to tell you. It’s New York Knicks’ guard J.R. Smith. Yes, the same J.R. Smith that has had multiple issues in recent years.

Now before I tell you what he did and why he was fined $50,000, try to remember the feeling you had when an elementary school bully went without punishment or received a punishment you didn’t see fit. That feeling sucked, right?

Smith didn’t get fined because of a fight or anything violent; he was fined because he tried to untie an opposing player’s shoelaces. He was caught trying to do this twice before the NBA stepped in and fined him. And then he was benched last week. This isn’t his first altercation while playing for the Knicks. In fact, he’s racked up more than $105,000 in penalties.

First off, why would a team continue to put up with a player who has yet to learn from multiple fines? Many have said he has learned his lesson, but has he really changed? Sure, he was benched for an entire game last Thursday, but do you really learn after one game?

I get that he is a valuable player. He is the current Sixth Man of the Year, but why on earth would you let him get away with multiple incidents without due punishment? As Sir Isaac Newton said, “With every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.”

But unlike Newton’s law, Smith keeps getting away with his childish antics.

I’m glad someone finally stepped up and benched him. He needs to learn that at 28 years old, you need to grow up and represent your team. But why let him pretend he walks on water when he is just like the rest of his team? He’s no different than any other player who just wants to play the game.

Smith got a toe across the fine line between sportsmanlike and unsportsmanlike and exploited it. He did this to see how far he could go, and what’s worse is that he continues to make childish mistakes.

If you look up J.R. Smith, you can see countless articles from every sports media outlet saying he’s learned from his benching. He said it for this and for his drug incident in 2013. But you can only cry wolf so many times before people stop believing you have changed.

As my mother said, “I don’t want to hear you say you’ve learned and changed from your mistake. I want to really see that you have.”

I spent many weeks grounded because of foolish mistakes that I have truly learned from. Smith can say he’s changed, but until he proves it, I don’t see why we should believe him.