Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving hit one of the most famous shots in NBA history with his game-winner in game seven of the 2016 finals.
Hot on the heels of an even more famous LeBron James chasedown block, Irving cooked two-time MVP Stephen Curry and knocked down a three-pointer that delivered the Cleveland Cavaliers their first championship.
Irving played one more season in Cleveland before a high-profile move to Boston, where he spoke early and often about finally realising the difficulties of leading an NBA team.
During that time, the Melbourne-born playmaker encouraged people to do their own research into whether the Earth is flat. It was a punchline then, but now seems like the first step on a dangerous path.
After mixed results and an acrimonious exit from the Celtics, Irving ended up in Brooklyn alongside superstar Kevin Durant. They were soon joined by another MVP, James Harden, establishing one of the most devastatingly skilled trios in NBA history.
In the few games when all three were fit there were hints of the dynamic offence that their combined résumés promised.
Alas, it didn't work. Between Irving, Durant and Harden there are 29 All Star berths, 20 All-NBA nods, seven scoring titles, three NBA championships and two MVPS. But there's only one ball and 48 minutes in a game, plus nine other guys hoping to get a touch every now and then.
As much as the on-court maths seemed to not add up, the bigger issue by all accounts came off the court.
None of them are without history of being poisonous in the locker room, but Irving has taken it to another level this season.
With his team — now with the uniquely challenging Ben Simmons causing his own geometry problems in Harden's place — struggling to find their groove on the court, the star point guard shared a link on his Twitter account.
It was to a documentary, based on a book, titled Hebrews To Negroes: Wake Up Black America.
The film purports to uncover "the true identity of the Children of Israel by proving the true ethnicity of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the Sons of Ham, Shem & Japheth", suggesting a cover-up regarding "the true biblical identity of" black people and "packed with tons of research", according to its page on Amazon.
Not long after his tweet was spat into the ether, countless people began pointing out some of the deeply problematic and, yes, anti-Semitic elements of the movie.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL): "The film promotes beliefs commonly found among anti-Semitic and extremist factions of the BHI (Black Hebrew Israelite) movement, including claims that modern Jews are impostors who stole the religious heritage of Black people and have engaged in a 'cover-up' to prevent Black people from knowing their 'true' identity."
"The film also amplifies longstanding anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish power, control and greed, including false claims that Jews control the media, and disputes the identity of modern Jews, claiming they are 'religious converts' who … have no historical connection to the land of Israel," the ADL says.
The ADL says the movie implies Sephardic and Azhkenazi Jews (descended from Jewish people whose ancestors settled in the Iberian peninsula and central and eastern Europe respectively) sold "real Black Israelites into slavery", and shares a quote from an anti-Semitic 1978 publication that denies 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
Many of the unproven conspiracy theories pertaining to global Jewish plans to oppress black people have been recently spouted by the likes of Kanye West, and lean into a narrative of Jewish power, control and greed favoured by neo-Nazis and large sects of the alt-right.
So, yes, more than a few people were unhappy with Irving sharing a link to this movie to his more than 4 million Twitter followers (he has a further 17 million on Instagram), and taking so long to delete it.
Irving's first muddled responses
The league did not initially take any action against the controversial 30-year-old, who missed half last season over his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
But eventually, the Nets were forced into suspending their star point guard.
Aside from his very active Twitter account, Irving's first chance to defend, double down, walk back or in any other way clarify the intent behind promoting the movie came after the Nets' loss to Indiana over the weekend.
Irving has spoken eloquently about issues facing black people in the US over the years and even in the past few days, but his mealy mouthed response when confronted with the damage he may have done to others only muddied the waters.
He said he was "in a unique position to have a level of influence on my community", then 90 seconds later accused the media "mak[ing] up this influence that I have". And that contradiction very much summed up the muddled tone of his six minutes of what could loosely be described as an explanation.
He was unwilling to accept that sending the link to his millions of followers constituted "promotion", and tried to wash his hands of the pain caused by the conspiracy theories the movie amplifies, although he tried to say that his tweet did not necessarily mean he supported every aspect of the movie.
"All I do is post things for my people and my community and those that it's actually going to impact," he said.
"Anybody else that has criticism, it obviously wasn't meant for them."
"Did I do anything illegal? Did I hurt anybody? Did I harm anybody?" he added.
"I'm not going to stand down on anything I believe in. I'm only going to get stronger."
NBA boss disappointed by 'reckless' Irving
Nets owner Joe Tsai had already said how "disappointed" he was that "Kyrie appears to support a film … full of anti-Semitic disinformation", and a few days later the team tried to put out the fire with a $US1 million ($1.6 million) donation split between Irving and the team to anti-discrimination causes.
Attached to the announcement was another attempt from Irving to justify his actions, saying he "oppose[s] all forms of hatred and oppression" and is "aware of the negative impact of my post towards the Jewish community and I take responsibility".
Less than a day later, NBA commissioner Adam Silver made clear that wasn't good enough, saying the post was "reckless" and the movie was "deeply offensive".
"I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicise," Silver said.
Another chance to apologise goes begging
Irving had another chance to make that apology in a media scrum soon after Silver's statement, but again missed the mark.
He went further than he had before, acknowledging there were some things in the film that were "untrue" and "unfortunate falsehoods".
Asked explicitly what parts of the movie he didn't agree with, he said vaguely: "Some of the criticism of the Jewish faith and the community."
He was similarly vague when addressing the minimisation of the Holocaust, he said "those falsehoods are unfortunate".
"It's not that I don't believe in the Holocaust, I never said that, it's not come out of my mouth, I never tweeted it, I never liked anything like it," he said amid the squeaking sneaker sounds of his less problematic teammates practising basketball.
"The Holocaust in itself is an event that means something to a large group of people that suffered something that could have been avoided."
Then asked directly by reporters if he held any anti-Semitic views, he only said: "I cannot be anti-Semitic if I know where I come from", in an apparent allusion to the notions of Jewish ethnicity put forward by the movie.
It was the last straw for the Nets.
Nets' patience with Irving running thin
A team statement said his refusal "to unequivocally say he has no anti-Semitic beliefs, nor acknowledge specific hateful material in the film" despite being given repeated opportunities to do so was "deeply disturbing".
The statement painted a picture of a team tired of paying almost $60 million a season to a player who is causing them little more than headaches.
"Over the last several days, we have made repeated attempts to work with Kyrie Irving to help him understand the harm and danger of his words and actions," it read.
"We believed that taking the path of education in this challenging situation would be the right one and thought that we had made progress with our joint commitment to eradicating hate and intolerance."
But alas, as his teammates trained for their upcoming game, desperate to turn their season around without a long-term coach in place, one of their alleged leaders was on the sidelines forced to answer for another harmful controversy of his own making.
Only late today — or about midnight in New York — and only after the Nets decided to suspend their star player, did Irving issue an apology via Instagram.
"To all Jewish families and communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologise," he wrote on a post with an image of a black square.
"I had no intentions to disrespect any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate. I am learning from this unfortunate event and hope we can find understanding between us all.
"I am no different than any other human being. I am a seeker of truth and knowledge, and I know who I am."
Six years removed from the greatest moment of his or maybe any NBA player's career, Irving keeps moving one foot in and out of the door of the league — what happens next will decide which side of the threshold he wants to be on.
