Celtics' Brown: NBPA disagrees with terms for Kyrie's return, will appeal ban
Boston Celtics forward and National Basketball Players Association vice president Jaylen Brown expects the union to appeal the Brooklyn Nets' suspension of star Kyrie Irving, who is also a vice president.
Brown told Boston Globe's Gary Washburn on Monday that the players' union is uncomfortable with the terms of the point guard's return from the minimum five-game ban. Irving was suspended after he tweeted a link to a film containing antisemitic tropes and then failed to disavow antisemitism or apologize in multiple interviews. He posted an apology on Instagram after the suspension was announced.
"I don't believe Kyrie Irving is antisemitic," said Brown. "I don't think people in our governing bodies think he's antisemitic. He made a mistake. We understand from an outside perspective how important sensitivity is to not condone hate speech and not condone anything of that nature. ...
"We don't want to stand up for somebody in order to not condemn hate speech, but I don't believe Kyrie Irving is antisemitic. And hopefully the NBA feels the same way.”
In order to return from his suspension, the Nets will reportedly require Irving to condemn the movie's content, meet with Jewish leaders and Anti-Defamation League representatives, complete sensitivity training and antisemitic training, make a $500,000 donation to anti-hate causes, and finally, demonstrate he understands the situation in a meeting with team owner Joe Tsai.
Brown said that players "expressed discomfort" with the conditions, particularly in light of the fact that the CBA doesn't include guidelines on social media posts. Irving will speak to commissioner Adam Silver about the situation Tuesday.
"There is an interesting distinction between what somebody says verbally and what somebody posts as a link on a platform with no description behind it," Brown said. "Some people will argue there's no difference and some people will argue there is a difference. There's no language in our CBA. There's no rules against it. This is uncharted territory for everybody."
Brown added, "The terms in which he has to fulfill to return, I think not just speaking for me, speaking as a vice president from a lot of our players, we didn't agree with the terms that was required for him to come back and we're waiting for this Tuesday meeting to happen to see what comes of it."
Irving has already missed two games. He'll have to sit out at least three more before he can suit up again, barring a successful appeal by the NBPA, and he could continue to miss time if he doesn't fulfill the Nets' conditions for his return.