Not Enough

The NBA thinks voting is so important there are no games scheduled today. The message is, clearly, Get out and vote. The message with Nets’ star Kyrie Irving? There doesn’t seem to be one. Irving, who sort of questions the shape of planet Earth and the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccination, also questions how anyone could think he was an antisemite. In Irving’s flat-earth take on reality, it’s OK to tweet a link to an antisemitic “documentary,” as he did last month. Called out for his action, he sort of apologized, along the lines of “if anyone was offended,” which he can’t see how they would be. Irving released a statement last week stating, “"I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize. I initially reacted out of emotion to being unjustly labeled Anti-Semitic, instead of focusing on the healing process of my Jewish Brothers and Sisters that were hurt from the hateful remarks made in the documentary." Talk about heartfelt. The Nets have suspended Irving while the NBA dithers. According to a story in Sunday’s NYT, LeBron James said that he loves Irving but also believes “what Kyrie did caused some harm to a lot of people.” Ya think? As tepid as James’s remarks were, they were better than those of Irving’s teammate Kevin Durant, who initially told reporters, “I felt like we could have just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization. I just don’t like none of it.” The mind boggles. I watched some of the Bulls-Nets game on Thursday and caught Reggie Miller go after the players for their refusal to speak up and criticize Irving. Miller gets it, as do Charles Barkley, Shaquill O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Then again, they all probably believe the Earth is round, too.