Adam Silver: I don't believe Kyrie Irving is antisemitic
Nets guard Kyrie Irving reacts during the first half of an NBA game against the Bulls at the Barclays Center on Nov. 1. Credit: Noah K. Murray
A day after meeting with Kyrie Irving in Manhattan, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he does not believe the Nets guard is antisemitic.
“I personally, based on what he said directly to me, have no doubt that he’s not antisemitic,” Silver told attendees at the Sports Business Journal Dealmakers Conference in Washington on Thursday. “But I think there’s a process that he’s going to now need to go through.”
Irving was suspended for at least five games by the Nets on Nov. 3, a week after linking to an antisemitic film on his social media accounts on Oct. 27.
Irving initially did not apologize for linking to the video, though he did so hours after the Nets suspended him. The team has laid out a multi-point plan for him to complete before he returns. It reportedly includes sensitivity and antisemitic awareness training, meeting with local Jewish leaders and Nets owner Joe Tsai, and making a $500,000 donation to anti-hate organizations.
LeBron James tweeted on Thursday that he think the Nets’ punishment and plan for Irving to return is excessive. On Nov. 3, James condemned “hate speech of any kind” and said Irving’s link had caused “some harm to a lot of people,” but he thinks the Nets went too far in their disciplining of Irving.
“I told you guys that I don’t believe in sharing hurtful information. And I’ll continue to be that way,” James wrote on Twitter Thursday, “but Kyrie apologized and he should be able to play. That’s what I think. It’s that simple. Help him learn — but he should be playing. What he’s asked to do to get back on the floor I think is excessive (in my opinion). He’s not the person that’s being portrayed of him.”
Saturday’s game against the Clippers in Los Angeles would be the fifth game of Irving’s suspension. That means, if the team were to lift his suspension, his first game back would be Sunday against James’ Lakers.
There are no guarantees that the Nets will lift the suspension after five games.
On Wednesday, general manager Sean Marks and coach Jacque Vaughn said they had not spoken with Irving. Marks said he has had contact with Irving’s representative.
Earlier on Thursday, Nike co-founder Phil Knight said in an interview on CNBC that the company likely is done with Irving.
The company announced last Friday that it had “suspended the relationship” with Irving and that it would not release the Kyrie 8, which was supposed to be Irving’s new signature shoe. Now it appears that the suspension is permanent.
“I would doubt that we would go back,” Knight told CNBC’s Becky Quick. “But I don’t know for sure.”
Knight added: “Kyrie stepped over the line. It’s kind of that simple. So he made some statements that we just can’t abide by, and that’s why we ended the relationship. And yeah, I was fine with that.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
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