NBA world reacts to Kyrie Irving finally getting suspended

One week after Kyrie Irving shared a controversial film with antisemitic messaging, the Brooklyn Nets are suspending him.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN broke the news if Irving‘s suspension on Thursday evening.

The Nets also released a statement a statement on the suspension. The statement indicated Irving’s press conference on Thursday was the final straw.

“We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge specific hateful material in the film. This was not the first time he had the opportunity – but failed – to clarify.

The statement also said that “We have decided that Kyrie will serve a suspension without pay until he satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct and the suspension period is no less than five games.”

 

The reaction to the suspension was generally positive. For several in the NBA world and other fans, one of the major prevailing questions was, what took so long?

https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1588317020038496257

I guess not apologizing the third time was The Line. https://t.co/939dIwvqKI

— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) November 3, 2022

Both the NBA and the Nets released widely criticized statements denouncing antisemitism shortly after Irving posted the video. In that time, he was permitted to play, not suspended with pay or even just benched.

But commissioner Adam Silver didn’t get particularly critical of Irving (at least in public) until shortly after his press conference on Thursday. That response came shortly before Brooklyn’s decsion to suspend Irving.

[Adrian Wojnarowski, Brooklyn Nets]