Kyrie Irving, one of the more controversial figures in the NBA, is rumored to be considering an abrupt retirement following a controversial suspension from the Nets. Issues of not only what the player had done, but how the team has acted, have been presented to the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). However, regardless of the final decision, many believe that his inconsistent tenure in Brooklyn will be over.
Now, why would this be? If you are unfamiliar with basketball, Kyrie is no stranger to voicing his personal beliefs. Just last year, the point guard found himself in the headlines for opting out of the vaccine protocol for both the NBA and New York State; landing him firmly on the bench for much of the season. Though critics pointed out how this jeopardized his team for the upcoming championship, Kyrie affirmed that:
“It’s not going to be swayed just because of one thing in this NBA life. That somehow it’s brought to my attention as being more important than what’s going on in the real world. It’s just not happening for me. Again, I respect everyone else’s decision, I’m not going to ever try to convince anyone of anything or any of that, I’m just standing rooted in what I believe in” (Friedell, 2022).
Moving forward for this season, the league has decided to withdraw the vaccine mandate for players. Finally, Brooklyn Nets fans could look forward to seeing their superstar players actually play for that long-awaited finals trophy. Instead, not even 10 games into the season, Kyrie finds himself once again the trending topic.`
In a now-deleted Tweet, Kyrie posted a link to a documentary on Prime Video called, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake up Black America”. Although I have not watched the documentary myself, many took to the comments section to call this movie out for holding a long list of anti-Semitic talking points. Following the post, Kyrie Irving decided not to follow up with his personal views surrounding the movie; instead mentioning how this was the documentary that showed up when he searched his Hebrew name in the search bar (House of Highlights, 2022).
In response to the post, many NBA news reporters saw this as an opportunity to, once again, poke and prod Kyrie during the post-game interviews. Seeing a potential headline surrounding this topic, reporters pressed Kyrie with these non-basketball-related questions. Specifically, the issue at hand was how he used his platform to promote certain content. In regards to the documentary, Kyrie believes:
“We’re in 2022. It’s on Amazon, a public platform. Whether you want to go watch it or not is up to you. There’s things being posted every day. I am no different than the next human being so don’t treat me any different. You guys, come in here and make up this powerful influence I have [saying] you cannot post that. Why not?” (House of Highlights, 2022)
In addition, not too long ago, he had shared unrelated viewpoints regarding secret societies with Alex Jones. In a heated exchange, this same reporter insisted that Kyrie had to answer his question about his promotion of an anti-Semitic documentary through his Twitter. Pushing back, he claimed that the reporter was mislabeling the tweet as a promotion which, in turn, dehumanizes him to the point where he can’t express his own ideas in his own way on his own platform.
Over the following days, reporters continued to badger Kyrie about his views on anti-Semitism and if he, in fact, denounces it. Kyrie, although insisting that he embraces all walks of life, refused to outright reject antisemitism, claiming “I cannot be anti-Semitic if I know where I come from” (ESPN, 2022). His comment is in reference to the historical definition of “Semite” which includes his northern-African heritage. Unfortunately, many influential voices surrounding the NBA, including commissioner Adam Silver, did not consider this to be a genuine denouncement and left his beliefs surrounded by ambiguity.
After about a week, Kyrie decided to post an apology following an indefinite suspension he received from the Nets (Ganguli, 2022). Clarifying his intentions, it appears that he regretted not formulating a post that outlined exactly what he agreed, or did not agree with, within the documentary itself. He goes on to state he always has sought to learn and embrace all walks of life while expressing remorse on how his post was misinterpreted. To wrap up the apology, he explicitly stated that he had no intention to disrespect any Jewish cultural history or perpetuate any hate.
Nets owner Joe Tsai remarked this was a good first step and went on to detail what exactly Kyrie’s next steps were to be in order for reinstatement:
- Condemn the Movie
- $500k donations to anti-hate causes
- Sensitivity training
- Anti-semitism training
- Meet with Anti-Defamation League (ADL) & Jewish Leaders
- Meet with Joe Tsai to demonstrate understanding
After this direct action taken by the organization, it has been interesting to see just how the news reporters have gone on to handle this situation. Over and over again, unrelated NBA players from across the league have been asked their opinions on this topic in their post-game interviews. Personally, the most revealing of these interviews seem to be the one involving Wizards Forward Kyle Kuzma.
Having seen an ambiguous tweet before the game, reporters were desperate to draw connections between what Kuzma posted and the recent situation involving Kyrie. Unfortunately for news headlines, it was asserted that the tweet had no correlation with Kyrie and instead involved a personal matter not to be discussed during the interview. Continuing to probe Kuzma for a statement on the matter, one reporter raised the question about why Kyrie is so popular with players around the league, even before the recent drama. Taken back, he describes,
“Have you seen him play basketball? Yeah. I mean, fi- Game 7, the finals? He’s a hell of a basketball player. You know we love basketball. So, I think that, you know a lot of that popularity comes from, just, seeing the artistry within him, from a basketball standpoint” (Fanatics View Hoops, 2022).
Digging deeper than just surface-level words, the facial expressions and the overemphasis on basketball during the response outlines Kuzma’s emotions towards this type of question. Instead of being asked about the game he just lost, he sits down and finds himself bombarded with personal questions concerning another player and their off-the-court actions. It was no doubt frustrating for Kuzma to carefully pick and choose his words for questions that he has no choice but to respond to, regardless of relevancy.
Finally, I believe that a comment from NBPA representative and Celtics guard, Jaylen Brown, ties many of the player’s feelings about the recent controversy together. Rather than discussing what Kyrie had posted, they are taking the position to note just how much control these teams can have on their public image. Brown labels the current situation as uncharted territory for everyone involved in the NBA and NBPA due to a lack of language or regulations regarding what Kyrie did in terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) the two have (Seigel, 2022). In response, the suspension is expected to be disputed by the players in the near future while Kyrie’s career hangs in limbo.
Even if the suspension is overturned, the noise that the name Kyrie Irving continuously creates makes it difficult for some teams to see value in such a talented player. Even with his basketball expertise, his nature to voice his opinions will always find the player at odds with the press. More often than not, these NBA reporters tend to swarm any current issue like piranhas, something that not all NBA team owners particularly like to deal with. Time after time, reporters have been seen using hyperbolic language and hand-picked evidence to create grotesque labels for their victims. For Kyrie, reporters insisted he promoted the content while failing to denounce anti-semitism. In turn, this creates a headline that baits people into clicking on their post which, more often than not, lacks much substance or credibility outside of a popular narrative. During this entire situation, not once did a reporter bring up a specific viewpoint from the documentary or attempt to open a channel for a constructive conversation regarding the viewpoints Kyrie held.
Instead, reporters across the media framed Kyrie Irving as a promoter of anti-semitic beliefs while ignoring his unique philosophical approach to embracing all walks of life. Reporters across the media have been quick to report the ADL’s rejection of his donation while choosing to ignore his generous donations to Feeding America, City Harvest, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the WNBA, the family of George Floyd, and HBCU students at Lincoln University, to name a few (O.S.D., 2022). More often than not, even outside of the NBA, news reporters are much more interested in discussing hateful, harmful, and otherwise frightening topics before focusing on ideas that uplift and contribute to the public at large.
TLDR; Conclusion
It is my personal opinion that Kyrie’s potential decision to retire is not because he’s some sort of avid anti-semite, but rather that he is unwilling to tip-toe and censor his thoughts around reporters whose ultimate goal is to create dramatized content regarding his response.
References
Database, O. S. D. B.- O. S. (2022). Kyrie Irving – Brooklyn Nets. OSDB. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.osdbsports.com/nba/players/kyrie-irving/philanthropy/dd146010-902b-4ad7-b98c-650d0363a2f0
ESPN. (2022). Kyrie Irving: ‘I can dismiss any label you put on me’ | Sports Center. YouTube. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aakf4_gEHU .
Fanatics View Hoops. (2022). Kyle Kuzma Reacts to Kyrie Irving Controversy, Viral Tweet About Truth & Blowout Loss vs. Brooklyn. YouTube. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZicRlJlf060 .
Friedell, N. (2022, January 18). Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving won’t reconsider COVID-19 vaccine stance in wake of Kevin Durant injury: ‘I stay Rooted in my decision . ESPN. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33088525/brooklyn-nets-kyrie-irving-reconsider-covid-19-vaccine-stance-wake-kevin-durant-injury-stay-rooted-my-decision
Ganguli, T. (2022, November 3). Nets suspend Kyrie Irving indefinitely after Antisemitic Movie Post. The New York Times. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/sports/basketball/kyrie-irving-apology-antisemitic-documentary.htm
House of Highlights. (2022). Kyrie Irving Walks out of Interview after Arguing with Reporter, Postgame Interview. YouTube. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56bwE_Lfw_I&t=20s .
Siegel, B. (2022, November 8). NBA players and NBPA address Kyrie Irving’s situation. Fastbreak on FanNation. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.si.com/fannation/nba/fastbreak/news/brooklyn-nets-kyrie-irving-suspension-nbpa-cj-mccollum-jaylen-brown