Brad Stevens is setting the record straight.
Earlier this week, Enes Freedom lashed out at the Celtics for wearing Ukrainian flag pins to support the country in its battle against invading Russian forces, while staying silent about other human rights issues across the world. “Hypocrites!,” Freedom tweeted. “Why is it okay to speak up about human rights violations there but not in other countries? Is there not much profit from Russia?”
Specifically, Freedom was referring to his decision to wear shoes supporting Taiwan’s independence from China. He claims the Celtics didn’t support his stance. “How is it fair when I wore shoes to bring awareness about human rights violations around the world, Celtics begged me to remove them and threatened to ban me,” Freedom wrote. “Celtics now wear Ukrainian flag pins.”
On Tuesday, Stevens addressed Freedom’s criticism in an interview with the Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy. The Celtics’ president of basketball operations disputes Freedom’s recount of events. According to Stevens, he only questioned Freedom’s shoes because he was unsure whether they violated the NBA’s uniform policy.
After the game, Stevens says he asked Freedom to keep him abreast of uniform changes in the future, so the Celtics aren’t scrambling to find out whether they comply with NBA policy.
“I was actually at home, and when he decided to wear the sneakers, there was some concern – and I didn’t even know until the end of the first quarter — that there was a potential uniform or dress code violation. I don’t know what was said – I can’t imagine that phrasing was said — but the question to me was what to do about Enes’ shoes,” Stevens explained. “I said I think that he’s fine, and let me double check with the NBA to see if there’s any uniform violation. Double-checked, fine, and he wore those the rest of the game and he wore whatever he wanted the rest of the year. It’s interesting, because I feel really good that we truly sat here and supported him and his right to express himself and his freedom of speech, and I even told him the next day that you know I’ve always done that.”
Freedom, who’s spent the last several months ripping the NBA for its silence in regards to China and feuding with LeBron James, was traded to the Rockets at the trade deadline along with Dennis Schroder for Daniel Theis. Houston released Freedom shortly thereafter.
Stevens insists the decision to trade Freedom was purely based on basketball. “When we decided to trade Enes, it was 1000 percent a basketball decision,” Stevens said. “Obviously the opportunity to bring Theis back with our defensive identity, and his mobility and the ability to play the way we wanted to as an eighth or ninth guy just made too much sense for us.”
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