After the Nets suspended star point guard Kyrie Irving on Thursday for at least five games without pay following his promotion of an antisemitic film on Twitter, fellow star Kevin Durant was asked about the situation in its entirety during shootaround on Friday morning.
“I ain’t here to judge nobody or talk down to nobody for how they feel their views and things,” he said. “I just didn’t like anything that went on; I felt like it was all unnecessary. I felt like we could have just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization.”
The comments by Durant were construed by many on social media as the Nets star saying that the actions by the organization were too harsh.
After seeing the reaction to his shootaround comments on social media, Durant took to Twitter to clarify.
“Just wanna clarify the statements I made at shootaround. I see some people are confused. I don’t condone hate speech or anti-semetism, I’m about spreading love always. Our game unites people and I wanna make sure that’s at the forefront,” Durant tweeted on Friday.
Irving’s lack of initial remorse and the subsequent backlash that he received resulted in the Nets’ suspension of their point guard and a formal statement released to the media.
“Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team,” the Nets said. “Accordingly, we are of the view that he is currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets.”
Irving issued his long-awaited apology late Thursday night, after the team handed down the suspension.
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