The players’ union to the rescue of Kyrie Irving?

At the start of each season its controversy for Kyrie Irving. After choosing not to be vaccinated (thus missing a large part of the campaign) in 2021, he is now suspended by the Nets for sharing a link to a conspiratorial / anti-Semitic film. The leader then refused to issue a clear apology, neither completely distancing himself from the more radical version. of the “Black Hebrew Israelites” theory.

As Kyrie Irving never responded to Joe Tsai’s messages, the Brooklyn franchise decided to strike hard by suspending its star player for at least five games, the time he could form a clear apology, but also that he fulfills six essential conditions for his return to play to be validated.

NBPA Vice President Jaylen Brown said at the Boston Globe that the players’ union was going to appeal about these six commandments at a meeting scheduled for Tuesday with Adam Silver.

“I traded with Kyrie, with Adam, with Tamika (Tremaglio, director of the players’ union) and just about everyone about this situation. The conditions necessary for his return are numerous, and many players have expressed their discomfort with these conditions. It was a violation of our collective agreement, we do not have to go into details on this subject. But I expect the union to appeal and I’m waiting to see what comes out of that meeting on Tuesday.”he explained.

Finding a difficult balance

Jaylen Brown refuses to believe that Kyrie Irving is anti-Semitic. In any case, he explains that he cannot be punished so harshly for having shared the link of a film, when he himself has not expressed anything anti-Semitic.

” He made a mistake. He posted something. There was no distinction. Maybe we can go ahead, but the conditions he has to meet to come back, and I’m not speaking just for myself, but with a lot of players that I represent as vice-president, we don’t did not agree with the terms imposed for his return. We are waiting for this meeting to see what comes out of it.”he added.

The suspension and then the return conditions were no doubt intended to show Brooklyn’s firmness on this subject. It must be said that the “borough” of New York is a place very marked by tensions between black and Jewish populations, with in particular the terrible riots in Crown Heights in 1991. Jaylen Brown, however, believes that the cursor has gone too high. The challenge of today’s meeting will therefore be to find the right balance.

“I don’t believe Kyrie Irving is anti-Semitic”continued Jaylen Brown. “I don’t think people in our governing bodies think he’s anti-Semitic. He made a mistake. We know, from an outside perspective, how important it is to show sensitivity in order not to tolerate hate speech and not to tolerate anything of this nature. It’s the sensitivity to semantics that surrounds it all. We do not want to defend someone and thus prevent ourselves from condemning hate speech, but I do not believe that Kyrie Irving is anti-Semitic. And I hope the NBA thinks the same.”

The problem is precisely the vagueness around the real convictions of Kyrie Irving. But for Jaylen Brown, you can’t punish his former teammate so harshly for a simple link on Twitter.

“There is an interesting distinction between the words and a link posted on a platform without comment”concludes Jaylen Brown. “Some people will say there is no difference and some will say there is a difference. There is no specific language in our collective agreement. There are no rules against this. This is uncharted territory for everyone, and everyone is trying to figure out the difference between the two. »