Charles Barkley says the NBA should have suspended Kyrie Irving
Despite widespread criticism on social media for sharing a link to an antisemitic film last week, Nets guard Kyrie Irving has so far faced zero consequences for the post.
Joe Tsai called out his own player on Twitter and said he wanted to have a conversation with Irving about the issue, and now-fired head coach Steve Nash confirmed that someone from within the organization did talk to Irving, but offered no details. Nike, set to release Irving’s latest signature shoe in November, issued a statement condemning antisemitism. The NBA similarly denounced hate speech and antisemitic ideas in a press release, but didn’t mention Irving by name.
According to Charles Barkley, the NBA mishandled the issue by not suspending Irving. Barkley offered his take on the situation Tuesday night before the Nets played the Bulls on TNT.
“I think he should have been suspended. I think Adam [Silver] should have suspended him.
First of all, Adam’s Jewish. You can’t take my $40 million dollars and insult my religion. If you’re going to insult me, you have the right, but I have the right to say ‘no, you’re not going to take my $40 million dollars and insult my religion.’
I think the NBA made a mistake. We have suspended people and fined people who have made homophobic slurs – and that was the right thing to do. I think if you insult the Black community, you should be suspended or fined heavily, depending. I saw they did the same thing to the kid in Minnesota this year [Anthony Edwards] when he made the gay slur. I think you should get suspended or fined.”
On Monday night, Irving’s second game since he shared the tweet, a group of fans sat courtside wearing shirts that read “Fight Antisemitism.” The organization has been shielding Irving from the media since a combative press conference on Saturday, during which Irving refused to back down from his post. Irving did not speak to the media on Monday, and will not be available for questions after Tuesday’s game. According to Marks, the team wants to avoid additional “fuss.”
"He did not do media last night, he's not going to do media tonight… We don't want to cause more fuss right now with more interaction with people. Let's let him simmer down. Let cooler minds prevail."
Sean Marks on Kyrie Irvingpic.twitter.com/QgqUUMROeQ
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) November 1, 2022
List
NBA Twitter reacts to Nets planning to hire Ime Udoka as next head coach
