Kevin Durant spoke to the media following the five-game suspension of Kyrie Irving following his unwillingness to “unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs.” Irving later issued an apology.
“I’m not here to judge somebody or talk down on the life or how they feel their views,” said Durant. “I just didn’t like anything that went on. I felt like it was all unnecessary. I felt like we could have just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization.”
Durant also appeared to blame the media for the situation surrounding Irving.
“This is the way the NBA is now, media, so many outlets now and their stories hit pretty fast now,” said Durant. “So that’s where all the chaos is coming from. Everybody has an opinion on the situation, and we’re hearing it nonstop.”
Durant published a follow-up on Twitter in response to his comments.
Just wanna clarify the statements I made at shootaround, I see some people are confused..I don’t condone hate speech or anti-semetism, I’m about spreading love always. Our game Unites people and I wanna make sure that’s at the forefront
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) November 4, 2022
