Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving has been the talk of the town for the past few days. He shared a link to a documentary that is widely considered to be controversial and anti-Semitic. A delay in an apology from his side has led to him being suspended for more than 5 games.
Nets owner Joe Tsai and NBA commissioner Adam Silver were the first to send out statements on this issue. However, we should also want to know how other NBA players felt about this situation. Especially stars like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry.
What did other NBA players say about Kyrie Irving sharing a link to an “anti-Semitic” documentary?
Kevin Durant is Kyrie’s teammate and good friend. He initially claimed that he didn’t want to judge anyone and that he felt all of this to be unnecessary. He even went on to say that he felt the Nets should have dealt with this quietly and kept playing basketball.
Nick Friedell: “Do you think anything that’s gone on with Kyrie recently with what he posted and backlash he’s faced from it has impacted the group at all?”
Kevin Durant: “Absolutely not. Only impacted you guys and everybody outside the locker room.” pic.twitter.com/TZM0Q0zmIN
— 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣’ 𝙉𝘽𝘼 (@_Talkin_NBA) October 30, 2022
KD clarified this perspective later and reinforced how he truly felt about this issue and its severity, “Just wanna clarify the statements I made at shootaround. I see some people are confused…I don’t condone hate speech or anti-semitism, I’m about spreading love always. Our game Unites people and I want to make sure that’s at the forefront.”
Just wanna clarify the statements I made at shootaround, I see some people are confused..I don’t condone hate speech or anti-semetism, I’m about spreading love always. Our game Unites people and I wanna make sure that’s at the forefront
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) November 4, 2022
The 2022 NBA Finals MVP Stephen Curry has chosen to remain silent on the issue at the present moment. On the other hand, Kyle Kuzma, sent out a cryptic tweet, “Can’t even tell the truth no more”. That had NBA fans speculating on whether he was referring to Kyrie’s statements.
Can’t even tell the truth no more
— kuz (@kylekuzma) November 4, 2022
All of this aside, the NBA world eagerly awaited what LeBron James had to say on this issue.
“I don’t condone any hate. To any kind, any race…What Kyrie did caused some harm to a lot of people…I don’t respect it.”
LeBron James on the drama surrounding former running mate Kyrie Irving 🗣
(via @michaelcorvoNBA) pic.twitter.com/OnT1U7arOs
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) November 5, 2022
King James recently spoke to the media and shared how he felt about this whole situation, “Me personally, I don’t condone any hate. To any kind, to any race. Jewish communities, or black communities to Asian communities…You guys know where I stand. There’s no place in this world for it. And I felt what Kyrie did caused some harm to a lot of people…So it doesn’t matter what color your skin is how tall you are what position you are in…. I don’t respect that.”
We hope that Irving will do whatever is required to grow from this incident and finally be able to put it behind him.
