Kevin Durant on Kyrie Irving's suspension from Brooklyn Nets: “I just didn’t like anything, I felt like it was all unnecessary”

Indiana Pacers v Brooklyn Nets
Brooklyn Nets stars Kevin Durant, left, and Kyrie Irving

Kevin Durant addressed Kyrie Irving's latest controversy on Friday, a day after Irving was suspended for at least five games by the Brooklyn Nets.

Although Irving was kept away from media members for several days, when he spoke about the situation Thursday, he seemed to tiptoe around an apology. Shortly thereafter, the Nets suspended Irving.

During a scrum with media members on Friday morning, Durant expressed frustration over the situation as a whole, rather than Irving for creating the controversy.

"It's an unfortunate situation for people that are impacted, but the situation, it just sucks all around for everybody, and hopefully we can move past it."

Explore the NBA Draft 2024 with our free NBA Mock Draft Simulator & be the GM of your favorite NBA team.

When asked specifically about Irving's conduct, Durant said:

"I ain't here to judge nobody or talk down on nobody for how they feel or their views or anything. I just didn't like anything that went on. I felt like it was all unnecessary. I feel like we coulda just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization. I just don't like none of that."

You can catch the comments from Kevin Durant in the video below:

youtube-cover

The Nets (2-6) have had a tumultuous time ever since Irving tweeted a link to a movie that has antisemitic content.

On Tuesday, Brooklyn fired coach Steve Nash. Despite Durant having issued an ultimatum to the team's front office in August, Durant on Tuesday said he was still shocked when the Nets and Nash parted ways.

Meanwhile, Nets general manager Sean Marks said he was hoping cooler heads would prevail when he kept Irving away from the media.

But Thursday's news conference with Irving provided another bizarre turn.

While questioning media members on where they were during his childhood and calling himself a "beacon of light," Irving took responsibility for his actions. Despite that, the Nets' front office was troubled by his lack of an apology and subsequently suspended him.

Kevin Durant on Kyrie Irving's suspension

Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant
Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant

While he came up short in condemning Irving's reposting of the controversial film, Durant did weigh in on Irving's suspension. The way he sees things, the Nets organization handles things like that.

"I believe and trust in the organization to do what's right," Durant said.

Durant has made it clear in interviews and on social media in recent years that his sole focus is on playing basketball and winning. However, his lack of condemnation in Friday's media scrum was met with some criticism. Considering that very few players have criticized Irving publicly, many hoped Durant would take a stronger stance.

Kevin Durant’s Twitter clarification on his statement

Durant later took to Twitter to clarify his stance. In the tweet, Durant condemned antisemitism while explaining that basketball is meant to primarily unite people.

Kyrie Irving suspended from Brooklyn Nets

As it stands right now, Irving is facing a minimum five-game suspension. With the Nets organization dissatisfied with how he handled things on Thursday. In order for the franchise to move past the situation, it has created a "series of objective remedial measures" Irving must do in order to be associated with the team again.

The franchise posted the following Tweet on Thursday:

One of the things Irving is supposed to do is meet with the Anti-Defamation League in order to better understand his actions. Although he apologized on Instagram hours after his suspension, Irving didn't attend a meeting with the ADL earlier in the week, according to ESPN's Jay Williams.

Hours after Irving's news conference and subsequent suspension Thursday, the ADL rejected Irving's donation of $500,000 on Wednesday.

youtube-cover

Brooklyn Nets Nation! You can check out the latest Brooklyn Nets Schedule and dive into the Nets Depth Chart for NBA Season 2024-25.

Quick Links

Edited by Joseph Schiefelbein
Sportskeeda logo
Close menu
WWE
WWE
NBA
NBA
NFL
NFL
MMA
MMA
Tennis
Tennis
NHL
NHL
Golf
Golf
MLB
MLB
Soccer
Soccer
F1
F1
WNBA
WNBA
More
More
bell-icon Manage notifications