One former longtime NBA veteran, who also coached Kyrie Irving as a member of the Brooklyn Nets coaching staff, feels the star guard needs to take accountability for his actions.
Irving, as he’s known to do, made himself the face of controversy, again, when promoting the documentary “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” on his Twitter and Instagram accounts — a film that features anti-Semitic tropes, according to Rolling Stone.
Former NBA player and ex-Nets assistant coach Amar’e Stoudemire added his two cents on the matter during a discussion alongside ESPN’s Mike Greenberg and Adrian Wojnarowski.
“You have to give an apology,” Stoudemire said on ESPN’s “Get Up” on Wednesday. “Because if you’re gonna promote a documentary that has false allegations inside of it, and you may not understand that these allegations that’s inside the documentary (are) false, okay you made a mistake. So apologize for it. And so I think that’s the issue. By not apologizing for that is gonna be an issue that the NBA is probably gonna take a look at.”
Stoudemire previously served alongside the Nets coaching staff for two seasons where he coached Irving. The 39-year-old converted to Judaism while also spending several seasons in Israel following the end of his 14-year NBA career.
On Thursday, the Nets announced their suspension (without pay) of Irving.
