Adam Silver mentioned on Thursday he would not imagine Kyrie Irving is antisemitic. Silver met with Irving on the NBA league workplace in Manhattan on Tuesday.
“We had a direct and candid dialog,” Silver, who’s Jewish, mentioned in an interview with The New York Occasions, including, “He’s somebody I’ve identified for a decade, and I’ve by no means heard an antisemitic phrase from him or, frankly, hate directed at any group.”
In a follow-up cellphone dialog, Silver added, “Whether or not or not he’s antisemitic shouldn’t be related to the injury attributable to the posting of hateful content material.”
Silver advised an viewers in Washington D.C. that the social media publish had achieved “monumental injury” to Irving and “probably” to the crew and the league. He added that he had “little question” that Irving was not antisemitic.
“I really feel that we acquired to the fitting consequence right here by way of his suspension,” Silver mentioned. “And on reflection, we might have been in a position to get there sooner. I settle for that criticism. However I felt it was necessary to know the context during which it was posted to know what self-discipline was applicable, not in any method to excuse it however to know what self-discipline was applicable.”
