The Nets have been under heavy fire for having yet to discipline Kyrie Irving in any way after he tweeted a link to a film based on a book rooted in antisemitism, but general manager Sean Marks told reporters on Tuesday that the team is discussing potential courses of action.
“We are having these discussions behind the scenes,” Marks said. “I honestly don’t want to get into those right now. We're taking advice from the ADL - that's on the Joe Tsai level, myself, and a group. Really just trying to weigh exactly what the best course of action is.
“Part of it is getting the sides together so they can understand. There’s an education piece for everybody here. There’s an empathetic piece to this and an understanding that we need to move on and do the right thing, without a doubt.”
It’s still unclear if Irving will be disciplined at all, by the team or the league, but its handling of Irving in the past wasn’t the most inspiring in terms of accountability, as he was told to stay away from the team after declining to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, until the season was in disarray and the Nets felt it had to have Irving on the floor in road games in a part-time capacity.
But Marks understands the criticism coming Brooklyn’s way in regards to the Irving situation, as they continue to have “internal and external” conversations in terms of how to handle it.
“It’s certainly understandable,” Marks said. “I'm completely empathetic to what's going on here. I'm certainly not proud of the situation we find ourselves in. I would like to turn the TV on and not find you talking about us in that manner, to be quite frank. I’d like to get back to basketball.”
As for Irving, who defended his promotion of the video during his postgame interview with reporters after Saturday’s game, Marks says the star point guard won’t be speaking with reporters for the time being.
“He did not do media last night, he will not do media tonight, at some point he will do media again,” Marks said. “At this point, we don't want to cause more fuss right now with more interaction with people. Let's let him simmer down. Let cooler minds prevail.”
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