The Brooklyn Nets' early-season suspension of Kyrie Irving for social media posts linking to an antisemitic film drew a strong response from several NBA players. Among those voices was Jaylen Brown, a former teammate of Irving's and vice president of the players union. Brown doubled down on his Nets criticism Tuesday, calling the terms of Irving's suspension “inappropriate” and “a violation of our CBA.”
“That’s my job as vice president of the union,” Brown said in an interview with the Ringer. “The union is supposed to be an entity to protect the players, especially their rights and their freedom of speech. I feel like what the Brooklyn Nets did—I still feel the same way—it was inappropriate. I think it was like a public ransom note almost, in a sense, where he had a list of demands he had to do to return to the game. It was a violation of our CBA. It’s a violation of our agreement and kind of got looked over like it was nothing.”
The team suspended Irving for eight games after he refused to apologize for the posts, calling him “unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets.” The eight-time All-Star got into a heated altercation with ESPN's Nick Friedell and walked out of a press conference during which he was asked if he would apologize. He again refused to apologize two days later, notably declaring “I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from” when asked for a yes or no response to whether he harbors antisemitic beliefs.
The Nets later delivered six steps for Irving to complete before returning – including a spoken apology condemning the film, a $500,000 donation to anti-hate causes, sensitivity and antisemitic training, as well as meetings with the ADL, Jewish leaders, and Nets owner Joe Tsai.
While Brown said that he didn't agree with the content Irving posted – which included Holocaust denial and assertions that Jews have “used five major falsehoods” to “conceal their nature and protect their status and power” – he did say he appreciates that his former teammate “said what he felt was right.”
“Kyrie is one of those people who isn’t afraid of being wrong,” Brown said. “He isn’t afraid of being embarrassed. He’s not afraid of big moments either, doing great things. He’s one of those people that’s special. We see him at the top of the world, and we see him make some mistakes as well. But I appreciate the fact that the fear factor for him, even though he might have been afraid, didn’t stop him from doing or saying what he felt was right, for what he felt he needed to do. And that doesn’t exist in 99 percent of people. So, people can say what they want about Kyrie Irving, but he’s definitely my friend.”
Irving said that Brown was one of the few NBA figures who stood by him during the suspension:
“He was one of the main ones that really stood beside me,” he told the Ringer. “And was 10 toes with me and just telling me like, ‘You know, it’s going to be all right. There’s peace of mind at the end of this road, but I want to let you know that you’re not alone in this.’”
Brown took aim at Joe Tsai after the Nets owner said Irving “had more work to do” during the suspension. The comment came amid uncertainty that Irving would complete Brooklyn's required steps:
This response is alarming for multiple reasons https://t.co/LCIEERpNYF
— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) November 13, 2022
“He didn’t say that the organization was working together to get Kyrie back on the floor, he said that he had ‘more work to do.’ Our society has more work to do, including Joe Tsai,” the Celtics guard said. “It’s 2022, it takes ten minutes of time to see who these business owners, corporations, etc., who they’re associated with, who they’re doing business with, who they’re affiliated with.”
Brown was referring to Tsai’s company Alibaba, which supported China’s cultural genocide of the Uyghur Muslims, according to an ESPN article citing a congressional report, among other sources. He also took issue with Nike founder and chairman Phil Knight saying Irving “stepped out of line” after the company cut ties with the guard for posting the antisemitic film.
Since when did Nike care about ethics? https://t.co/f8t2eY994v
— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) November 10, 2022
Irving also served as Vice President of the NBPA alongside Brown for the last three years. He was not re-elected after his term ended last month. The New Jersey native was traded to the Dallas Mavericks at the deadline after he requested a trade. Despite Brown's feelings on the nature of Irving's suspension, the NBPA has announced no plans to further investigate the issue.
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