Brooklyn Nets owner Joesph Tsai said he and his wife Clara believe that Kyrie Irving “does not have any beliefs of hate towards Jewish people or any group” following a meeting with the suspended player and his family. But Tsai stopped short of saying when or if Irving will be allowed to return to the Nets organization.
“The Nets and Kyrie, together with the NBA and NBPA, are working constructively toward a process of forgiveness, healing and education,” Tsai wrote in a statement on Twitter.
The comments echo ones shared by commissioner Adam Silver Thursday.
“I personally, based on what he said directly to me, have no doubt that he’s not antisemitic,” Silver said at the Sports Business Journal Dealmakers Conference in Washington. “But I think there’s a process that he’s going to now need to go through.”
The Nets suspended Irving for a minimum of five games after he shared a link on social media to a documentary film with antisemitic views, then failed to apologize to people of the Jewish faith despite being given multiple chances to do so.
The team said Irving is “currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets” and gave him a list of conditions to complete before reinstatement would be considered. Those requirements are:
• Irving must apologize for posting a link to a documentary containing antisemitic material. He also must condemn the movie.
• Irving must make a $500,000 donation to anti-hate causes.
• Irving must receive sensitivity training.
• Irving must take training to educate himself on antisemitism.
• Irving must meet with the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish leaders.
• Irving must meet with Tsai to demonstrate his understanding of the issues.
Irving has missed four Nets games so far and would not be eligible to return to game action until Sunday evening against the Los Angeles Lakers at the earliest.
Some players, including Lakers superstar LeBron James and NBPA vice president Jaylen Brown, have criticized the punishment in recent days, with James calling it “excessive” in a tweet Thursday.
“I don’t believe Kyrie Irving is antisemitic,” Brown told The Boston Globe. “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.”
