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Former NBA player Charlie Villanueva came to Will Smith?s defense for Will?s slap on Chris Rock. While many are siding with Chris Rock sighting Will Smith’s violent actions, Charlie stands with Will. Villanueva also has the autoimmune skin disease alopecia which Jada Pinkett Smith is suffering from. The disease prevents the growth of hair on the scalp and/or elsewhere on the body.?

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As someone who has been going through this struggle for more than 20 years, Charlie said that he understands Will Smith?s response.

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Charlie Villanueva has played for 4 different teams in 11 seasons in the NBA from 2005-06 to 2015-16. Also, Villanueva had also previously claimed that Kevin Garnett insulted him a lot worse than Chris Rock.

Villanueva said that someone who?s struggling with alopecia would be very vulnerable. And that it could be hurtful for people who are yet to accept this condition.?

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Charlie Villanueva shows support to the Smiths

Charlie said that Will Smith reacted once he saw Jada?s pain, and only Will would know how much Jada is struggling. He said that people should be careful when they comment or make fun of someone. Because they might be struggling with something we aren’t aware of.

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Villanueva said that Will Smith?s reaction to him was just human. He admits Will chuckled at first, but it changed once Will saw Jada?s discomfort. He maintained he doesn?t approve of violence but said that the human reaction wasn?t a surprise to him.?

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Villanueva finished his comments by saying that he hopes that awareness about alopecia increases after this incident.

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In 2010, Charlie Villanueva claimed on Twitter that Kevin Garnett called him a ?cancer patient?.?

The Toronto Raptors selected Charlie Villanueva as the 7th pick in the 2005 NBA draft. He averaged 13 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game in his first season.

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After his rookie year, they traded Charlie to the Bucks and he played there for 3 seasons. During his final season for the Bucks, he averaged 16.2 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game. These were his best numbers for a single season.

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He was then traded to the Detroit Pistons, where he played for five seasons before he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks. Charlie then spent the next two seasons in Dallas and retired in 2016. His career averages are 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 656 games.

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Written by

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Bagavathi Eswaran

1,520 Articles

Bagavathi Eswaran is a senior NBA writer at EssentiallySports, having a strong passion for the sport since the age of ten. As a former college player, Bagavathi has been following the NBA for more than a decade and has found his calling in writing about the sport. He has used his expertise in covering the NBA, as well as other arenas of the sport, to write more than 1400 articles at ES. Bagavathi's pieces on the increasingly dominant presence of European basketball and those following the journey of women-ballers are particularly noteworthy. Along with being a full-time writer, he is also a part of a group of young coaches groomed as trainers by Junior NBA. Bagavathi has trained players from schools and colleges, as well as underprivileged students who can attend the camps for free.

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Ajinkya Aswale

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