Kyrie Irving updates: Star guard is nearing end of suspension, return to the court

Kyrie Irving was suspended by the Brooklyn Nets for at least five games on Thursday evening after refusing to apologize or accept accountability for posting a link to a film containing antisemitic ideas. The suspension came hours after Irving held another bizarre, combative media session with reporters where he declined to answer direct questions about his personal beliefs or acknowledge the danger of the contents of the film.

The suspension is the culmination of week-long controversy for Irving that started when he tweeted a link to “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” a film on Amazon that contains deeply antisemitic tropes. Irving played against the Chicago Bulls a day before the suspension. The Nets said he would be suspended “no less than five games” without pay until he “satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct.”

Here’s everything you need to know about the Irving situation, with updates at the top when additional details are reported.

Irving has already missed eight games for his minimum five-game suspension without pay. Now he’s finally close to getting back on the court. Irving could return on Sunday vs. the Memphis Grizzlies, according to Woj.

Tremaglio and the union have worked closely with Irving, the Nets and the NBA in helping him to author his own remedies to end the suspension, sources said. What may have started out as a rigid list of prerequisites evolved into Irving himself taking ownership of the process, which is what the Nets and league hoped would be the case, sources said.

Via ESPN:

After hours of conferring with lawyers and the league office, the Nets landed on five games without pay — costing Irving $1.2 million — and a requirement to complete a “series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct.”

Durant was asked about Irving suspension on Friday, and seemed to say he wished the Nets would have “kept quiet” about Irving’s tweet.

After a backlash started on Twitter, Durant followed up by clarifies his beliefs in his own tweet:

Irving finally accepted accountability and apologized for sharing the film in a post on Instagram on late Thursday night. Here’s Irving’s full statement:

The Nets released the following statement announcing Irving’s suspension.

“We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge hateful material in the film,” the team said in the statement. They noted he has multiple opportunities to take accountability for sharing the dangerous ideas in the film, but he refused thus far.

The key points here are:

On Wednesday, the Nets and Irving announced they would each donate $500K to the Anti-Defamation League to combat all forms of antisemitism and bigotry. On Thursday, the ADL announced they would no longer accept Irving’s money after he refused to apologize at another press conference.

Irving did not meet with the ADL in-person, and his father and stepmother meet with the organization instead.

Irving spoke to reporters on Thursday afternoon at Nets practice. He again confused antisemitism with being pro-Black and dodged direct questions about the themes of the video he shared. Watch a clip here:

Following a loss to the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, Oct. 29, Irving spoke publicly about the topic for the first time. Read a full transcript of Irving’s press conference at Nets Daily, and watch the video below.

We’ll update this story as it develops.