There's been a whole lot of buzz surrounding Kyrie Irving and his most recent saga. This time around, the Brooklyn Nets superstar got himself in a whole lot of trouble after promoting an antisemitic movie on Twitter, which naturally, drew the ire of more than a few folks out there.

Curiously enough, however, you don't hear NBA players speaking out against Irving. Antisemitism is a very problematic social issue, but still, we don't have even the most outspoken stars in the league saying a single word about the issue.

ESPN's Stephen A Smith knows why this is the case:

“Why you don't hear athletes sounding off is because collectively, they're all probably fine saying, ‘What the hell is this guy thinking? Why in God's name would he do this?'” Smith said. ” … Obviously, when it comes to professional athletes, far more often than not, when you disagree with them and you want to decry what their positions are, you showcase that by saying nothing. As opposed to really calling them out because you're sensitive to how they would take it and how they would absorb it.”

As they always say, the NBA is one big brotherhood. They protect their own — at times, to a fault. This extends beyond the basketball community too, with athletes from all sports also opting to keep their mouths shut on the Kyrie front.

According to Stephen A Smith, this just won't fly when it comes to dealing with the embattled Nets superstar:

“I would dare say that's problematic when it comes to Kyrie Irving because tough love is required where it comes in,” Smith continued. “… I don't ever believe that Kyrie Irving intentionally means to hurt anyone. The problem is that again, he believes his level of intellect far exceeds everyone else's that he's teaching you.”

For what it's worth, Kyrie Irving did eventually apologize for offending the Jewish people with his tweet. The timing and the motivation behind the apology, however, is debatable, to say the least.

Either way, Irving has once again dragged the Nets into a completely undesirable and unwanted situation — one that he might actually not be able to come back from.