CJ McCollum had not yet spoken publicly on the subject. The president of the players’ union preferred to wait to learn more about the Kyrie Irving case before doing so. The Pelicans player, interviewed after his team’s loss to the Hawks, said he spoke with league leaders as well as people of Jewish origin ” to get more personal knowledge “.
” The situation is ongoing so I still don’t feel comfortable talking about some things like I didn’t feel comfortable talking about some things regarding (Robert) Sarver because I was still gathering information and they were still deliberating what decisions to make », justifies the successor of Chris Paul.
Some like Reggie Miller had indeed wondered why the NBA players had not spontaneously stepped up to the plate against the Nets leader, suspended at least five games for having shared anti-Semitic content, as they had been able to do with the owner of the Suns, sanctioned for sexist and racist behavior. “ I can’t speak to the reaction of the players and what they do in their free time “, evacuates CJ McCollum.
Find out before you speak
According to the latter, it was important that his counterpart in question ends up apologizing, in the wake of the announcement of his suspension by the Nets.
” He has shown empathy ever since. It’s a lesson because I don’t think he understood the scope of the film because he didn’t watch it (Kyrie Irving, however, assured to have seen the film last year, while he was stuck at home…). I don’t think he understood how many people were affected, how they were affected, how quickly hatred can spread and how it can snowball. »
Beyond the Irving case alone, the leader/back sees this episode as a warning for all the players.
” The important thing to remember from this situation is that you have a platform. You have to be careful how you use it. You should verify everything you post. It’s a situation that we can all use as a lesson for all of us as players. “, Continues the former member of the Blazers.
The latter considers that it is the duty of each actor to do research, to find out about “ all religions, all backgrounds and all races to feel comfortable talking about it. ” You need to be careful with what you post “Warns the president of the union again. It remains to be seen if Kyrie Irving’s problem is that he has not inquired enough… or that he is on the contrary convinced by what he shares?
