NBA players' union has Kyrie Irving's back over ban
Nets guard Kyrie Irving looks on in the second half of an NBA game at Barclays Center on Oct. 29. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
DALLAS — The NBA players’ union is apparently going to bat for Kyrie Irving.
Boston Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown, who like Irving is a NBPA vice president, told The Boston Globe on Monday that the union does not agree with the terms the Nets reportedly have set for Irving to return from his suspension for linking to an antisemitic film on his social media accounts.
The conditions set by the Nets reportedly include a public apology and condemnation of the film, a $500,000 donation to anti-hate causes, sensitivity and antisemitism training, a meeting with Jewish leaders and a meeting with team owner Joe Tsai.
Irving is reportedly set to meet with NBA commissioner Adam Silver as early as Tuesday. An NBA spokesman did not comment when asked if a meeting had been scheduled, but Brown referred to it as a scheduled meeting in his comments on Monday.
“The terms for his return, they seem like a lot, and a lot of the players expressed discomfort with the terms,” Brown said. “He made a mistake. He posted something. There was no distinction. Maybe we can move forward, but the terms in which he has to fulfill to return, I think not just speaking for me, speaking as a vice president from a lot of our players, we didn’t agree with the terms that was required for him to come back and we’re waiting for this Tuesday meeting to happen to see what comes of it.”
Brown said he has spoken to Irving, Silver and NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio about the suspension.
“I don’t believe Kyrie Irving is antisemitic,” Brown said. “I don’t think people in our governing bodies think he’s antisemitic. He made a mistake. We understand from an outside perspective how important sensitivity is to not condone hate speech and not condone anything of that nature. It’s sensitivity to the dialect around that. We don’t want to stand up for somebody in order to not condemn hate speech, but I don’t believe Kyrie Irving is antisemitic. And, hopefully, the NBA feels the same way.
“There is an interesting distinction between what somebody says verbally and what somebody posts as a link on a platform with no description behind it. Some people will argue there’s no difference and some people will argue there is a difference. There’s no language in our CBA. There’s no rules against it. This is uncharted territory for everybody, and everybody is trying to figure out the difference between the two.”
Irving posted the link on Oct. 27 and, after initially declining to apologize for it, was suspended by the Nets a week later without pay for at least five games. The third game was Monday night against the Mavericks in Dallas.
Irving apologized on his social media accounts four hours after he was suspended, but the Nets have not said when and if he will be reinstated, only that his belated apology was not enough.
Acting Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said on Monday night that he had not spoken to Irving since the team announced the suspension.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
