Current NBA players haven’t spoken out on the Kyrie Irving controversy, as the Nets point guard hasn’t faced any discipline while the team now blocks him from speaking to the media, but former players haven’t shied away from giving their strong thoughts.
Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley were among those to call out Irving on Tuesday, and during the TNT broadcast of the Nets and Bulls on Tuesday night, Reggie Miller called out all other players who haven’t taken a stand against Irving’s decision to promote the link to an antisemitic video.
“In year’s past, this league had been great because the players have led the way and have strong voices,” Miller said. “When Donald Sterling stepped in it, hen Robert Sarver recently stepped in it, our players were very vocally strong in some type of discipline being handed down. “The players have dropped the ball on this case when it’s one of their own. It’s been crickets, and that’s disappointing, because this league has been built on the shoulders of players being advocated. Right is right, and wrong is wrong.
“If you’re gonna call out owners, and rightfully so, you gotta call out players as well. You can’t go ghost silence 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.”
As of Wednesday morning, there wasn’t any player backlash to be heard, and the Nets had said they were having “internal and external discussions” about potential discipline, but Irving was still on the floor in a loss to the Bulls.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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