The Cleveland Cavaliers have experienced more locker room dysfunction this season than they have since LeBron James returned home. It all started before the season began when the Cavs let general manager David Griffin go, causing Kyrie Irving to demand a trade. The Cavs responded by trading him. After bringing in some veterans, Derrick Rose suffered yet another injury and left the team, considering retirement. The Cavaliers responded by telling him to take his time. Isaiah Thomas ripped into Kevin Love for getting sick and split the locker room in half.

Cleveland responded by doing nothing until they finally traded Thomas at the deadline. So, what was it that Jr Smith did that caused Cleveland to lay down the hammer and suspend the starting shooting guard?

Why did the Cleveland Cavaliers suspend JR Smith?

JR Smith didn't make demands of the front office. Smith didn't leave the team without warning to "find himself." JR didn't even talk smack to a teammate and cause the Cavs to break down when they needed to bond together. No. JR Smith threw a bowl of soup at assistant coach Damon Jones.

Yes, JR Smith is a 32-year-old man. Smith has been in the NBA for 14 seasons, including stints with the New Orleans Hornets, Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks.

He spent the last three seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he helped the team make it to three straight NBA Finals appearances. He was suspended for throwing a bowl of soup at an assistant coach.

Head coach Tyronn Lue said that JR Smith would remain the Cleveland Cavaliers starting shooting guard and will rejoin the team tomorrow when they play the Denver Nuggets.

Surely there was more to the suspension than a bowl of soup.

Was there another reason for the suspension?

This is where conspiracy theorists can start to come up with reasons that the Cleveland Cavaliers chose to suspend JR Smith instead of just sitting him down for a stern discussion. Why did the Cavs suspend JR Smith? Well, it cost them no money but it cost Smith $94,897 for what some suggest could have been an experiment.

Many Cleveland Cavaliers fans wonder why JR Smith is starting at shooting guard despite having the worst season of his tenure with the Cavs. Cleveland just traded for Rodney Hood but stuck with Smith as the starter. Why did the Cavs suspend JR Smith? Maybe they wanted to see what Rodney Hood could do as a starter without demoting Smith for a game.

The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in that game, 108-97. Rodney Hood scored 11 points (2.7 more than Smith's season average) with five assists (3.1 more than Smith) and five rebounds (two more than Smith).

However, despite playing for 39 minutes, Hood scored fewer points than he did in the previous win over the Brooklyn Nets and the Cavs were down a player.

With that said, the Cleveland Cavaliers have watched Rodney Hood in action as a starter and have a good idea of what they have if JR Smith throws any more soup in the future. This isn't the type of Souper-Team that LeBron James wanted to form.
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