NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving’s road to return begins now.
Irving, the star Nets guard serving a minimum five-game suspension for “failure to disavow antisemitism,” met with NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday, according to The Athletic.
The meeting between Irving and Silver, who is Jewish, was reportedly “a productive and understanding visit, paving the way for” Irving to work through the six steps the Nets said he needs to complete before returning to the floor.
Those six steps arose as a point of contention, however, for National Basketball Player’s Association Vice President Jaylen Brown.
To complete his suspension and return to the court, the Nets want Irving to apologize for his actions and condemn the movie “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America”; donate $500,000 towards anti-hate causes; complete sensitivity training and anti-Semitic training; meet with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Brooklyn’s Jewish leadership; and meet with Nets owner Joe Tsai to show an understanding of the harm caused by his actions.
Brown, Irving’s former teammate on the Boston Celtics, said he doesn’t believe Irving is antisemitic and said the player’s union plans to appeal the Nets’ suspension.
“I don’t believe Kyrie Irving is antisemitic. I don’t think people in our governing bodies think he’s antisemitic. He made a mistake,” Brown told The Boston Globe. “I’m expecting the NBPA to appeal the suspension from Brooklyn. The terms for his return, they seem like a lot, and a lot of the players expressed discomfort with the terms. He made a mistake. He posted something. There was no distinction.”
Irving posted the Amazon link to the movie “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” on Oct. 27 and was immediately met with backlash. The film has been widely acknowledged as containing antisemitic tropes, including the notion that the Holocaust was overstated, which Irving denied he believes.
Ronald Dalton Jr., who wrote the film, issued a statement on Sunday in defense of Irving.
“Freedom of speech and freedom of expression should not be seen as an ‘infringement,’ but unfortunately based on what we have seen lately in the news, this is a sad reality in America,” Dalton wrote. “We definitely have more work to do to fix this.”
Irving averaged 27 points, five rebounds and five assists per game through the first eight games of the season before the Nets suspended him for what they called “conduct detrimental to the team.”
After Irving addressed reporters twice without issuing an apology for his post, the Nets deemed him “unfit to be associated with” the franchise.
