With the Brooklyn Nets facing the Chicago Bulls on TNT on Tuesday night, the broadcast opened with discussion of the most recent Nets drama. The bulk of that conversation centered on Kyrie Irving sharing a link to a film with anti-Semitic sentiments.
TNT’s Reggie Miller was disappointed in Irving. But, even more so, Miller was disappointed in the reactions, or lack thereof, of fellow NBA players.
“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 in this case when it’s been one of their own. It’s been crickets,” Miller continued. “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.”