Kyrie Irving served the fifth game of his minimum five-game suspension Saturday, and it sounds like the Nets All-Star will continue to be out of game action through Brooklyn’s road trip.
Irving came under fire earlier this month as he published a link to a film with anti-Semitic ideologies on his social media pages. Irving initially failed to apologize for doing so and deflected when given the opportunity to confirm he did not have any anti-Semitic beliefs. It prompted the Nets to suspend Irving for “at least” five games, Nike to cut ties with the star guard and an extensive amount of controversy and backlash.
Nets owner Joe Tsai has expressed his displeasure with Irving, and he has met with the 30-year-old, the NBA and the NBA Players Association. But when asked if Irving would be back for the team’s road trip, Tsai said, “He still has work to do,” as transcribed by Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
This prompted Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown to chime in. The 26-year-old is a vice president of the NBAPA, along with teammates Grant Williams and Malcolm Brogdon and Irving.
“This response is alarming for multiple reasons,” Brown tweeted.
Likely due to privacy reasons, Brown did not elaborate on the “multiple reasons,” but it may be due to the meeting with Tsai and a possible difference in communication.
Brown has not been shy in sharing his feelings on Nike cutting ties with Irving, and he has continued to represent many players’ wishes for Irving to return to game action.
Nets star Kevin Durant revealed Irving is in high spirits during his suspension after Brooklyn beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
“Looking forward to playing the game, you know Ky, he’s a gamer, he loves to play,” Durant told reporters, per ESPN’s Nick Friedell. “So hopefully all this stuff is over with, we can move past it and get him back on the floor soon.”
Durant and his Nets teammates are unaware of when Irving will return to the team as he added: “That’s been out of control. And as players we try to lock in on the game, practices. So we just try to lock in and whenever that figures itself out, it will. That’s over a lot of our heads right now so we just got to control what we can.”
Irving was given a series of six items he must complete before returning to the team, and it appears Tsai’s intent on keeping Irving to that requirement.
