(New York) If they believe they have acted in the best way, by suspending Kyrie Irving, who ended up apologizing for having promoted an anti-Semitic film, the Nets claim not to have thought of separating from him, expecting more than expressed regrets from him.
Posted at 5:16 p.m.
” Nope. Not at that time, ”general manager Sean Marks replied on Friday to a journalist asking him if the club had considered breaking the contract binding him to the player, following his slippage and his persistent refusal, a week during, to apologize.
“I think that was the best course of action. As it stands, he’s just suspended,” insisted the Brooklyn executive, who traveled to Washington with the team for the game against the Wizards.
A meeting where Irving will not play, since the sanction imposed by the Nets is valid for five games.
Marks said the 2016 NBA champion’s apology (with Cleveland), issued just hours after his suspension was announced, was “a good first step,” but there was still a long way to go.
I think that after such a case, we always hope for change, especially in attitude. Actions speak louder than words. And so he will have time to think about all that. [Il doit] meet[r] Jewish community leaders from Brooklyn to educate themselves on issues related to anti-Semitism.
Sean Marks, General Manager of the Brooklyn Nets
“He will have to discuss with them. Then we will assess the situation within the club and we will see if it is the right time to bring him back, ”concluded Sean Marks, suggesting that Irving could therefore be sidelined for more than five games.
Durant hardly inspired
Especially since the NBA has been far too passive, content to blame the player on Thursday, his boss Adam Silver said he wanted to meet him in person next week.
Called for by many voices, who have criticized the league for not having cracked down so far, an additional sanction could therefore hit Irving.
Last Thursday, the 30-year-old player posted a poster of the film on his social networks Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, with a link to the Amazon site to rent or buy it. Directed in 2018 by Ronald Dalton Jr, this documentary is adapted from a 2015 book of the same name in which it is written that “many famous high-ranking Jews” have “admitted” to having “worshipped Satan or Lucifer”.
“To all the Jewish families and communities who have been hurt and affected by my message, I am deeply sorry and apologize to you,” the long-declined Irving finally said, arguing that he was furious to see himself. attach the “anti-Semitic label”.
Asked Friday about the suspension of his teammate, Kevin Durant, the team’s other star player, replied that he “trusted the club to do what is right”, while saying “not having liked what happened”, without specifying what exactly.
“I feel like all of this was not necessary, that we could have continued playing basketball and the team could have stayed quiet,” he added.
A clarification of his remarks was necessary and Durant did so by tweeting: “I do not tolerate hate speech or anti-Semitism”.