Reggie Miller called out NBA players’ response to Kyrie Irving.
Or, rather, lack of response. Last week, Irving tweeted a link to “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” a film that contains anti-semitic tropes. On TNT’s Nets-Bulls broadcast on Tuesday, the matter was discussed for several minutes in the first quarter in a discussion including Miller, play-by-play broadcaster Brian Anderson and sideline reporter Jared Greenberg.
Miller expressed his dissatisfaction that players have been willing to call out owners but not one of their own.
“In years past, this league has been great because the players have led the way and they have strong voices,” Miller said. “When Donald Sterling stepped in it, when Robert Sarver just recently stepped in it, our voices in the basketball community and our players were vocally strong in some type of discipline being handed down — or be gone.
“The players have dropped the ball on this case when it’s been one of their own. It’s been crickets,” Miller added. “And it’s disappointing, because this league has been built on the shoulders of the players being advocates. Right is right and wrong is wrong. And if you’re gonna call out owners, and rightfully so, then you’ve got to call out players as well. You can’t go silent in terms of this for Kyrie Irving. I want to hear the players and their strong opinions as well, just as we heard about Robert Sarver and Donald Sterling.”
The NBA Players Association did release a statement on Tuesday, but the statement did not include Irving by name.
Reggie Miller blasted NBA players for ‘crickets’ in response to Kyrie Irving. NBAE via Getty Images
Kyrie Irving promoted a film with anti-semitic tropes on social media. Getty Images“Anti-semitism has no place in our society,” the statement read. The NBPA is focused on creating an environment where everyone is accepted. We are committed to helping players fully understand that certain words can lead to hateful ideologies being spread. We will continue to work on identifying and combating all hate speech whenever it arises.”
Earlier in the TNT broadcast, Charles Barkley said the NBA should’ve suspended Irving.
“I think he should have been suspended him,” Barkley said. “I think Adam [Silver] should have suspended him. First of all, Adam is Jewish — you can’t take my $40 million and insult my religion. You gonna insult me, you have the right, but I have the right to say, ‘You can’t take my $40 million and insult my religion.’ I think the NBA, they made a mistake. We’ve suspended people and fined people who have made homophobic slurs. And that was the right thing to do. If you insult the black community, you should be suspended or fined heavily.”
