The San Antonio Spurs have an arsenal of three-point specialists and one of them is center Matt Bonner. But Bonner, who suffered from tennis elbow last season, is blaming the new iPhone for his injury and subpar shooting last season.
Bonner's career percentage in three-point shooting is 41.4 percent, but last season he was only hitting 36.5 percent of his three-point shots.
"I hate to make excuses, I was raised to never make excuses, but I went through a two-and-a-half-month stretch where I had really bad tennis elbow and during that stretch, it made it so painful for me to shoot I'd almost be cringing before I even caught the ball like, 'Oh, this is going to kill,'" Bonner, 35, told the Concord Monitor last week.
A tennis elbow happens when the tendons of the elbow are inflamed from overuse of the forearm muscles.
Bonner thinks he knows how he sustained the injury, though he admits that the reason might be funny.
"When the new iPhone came out, it was way bigger than the last one, and I think because I got that new phone it was a strain to use it, you have to stretch further to hit the buttons, and I honestly think that's how I ended up developing it," he explained.
Despite the numbers, Bonner is confident that he can still shoot and contribute. He also expressed his desire to stay with the Spurs.
"I'm hoping to be back with the Spurs. I've been there nine years. I love playing for that organization, my teammates, the coaches and staff, the fans and everybody there," he told the Concord Monitor. But he expressed openness to the possibility of playing for another team if there were better options.
"But if someone came along and offered me a giant contract, maybe I'd consider it, but who knows if that's going to happen. And if for some reason (the Spurs) wouldn't take me back, then I'd have to go to Plan B and find another team to play for," Bonner said.
