Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown is one of the more outspoken players in the NBA as he has lent his voice to various causes throughout the world. Brown, who is also vice president of the NBPA, has been steadfast in his belief that the Brooklyn Nets’ suspension of former Net Kyrie Irving was against the rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Irving was suspended by the Nets for eight games in November for tweeting a link to a film filled with antisemitic tropes. He missed games starting with a 42-point win over the Washington Wizards on Nov. 4 to a 2-point win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 17. In addition to the suspension, Brooklyn gave Irving a list of tasks that he had to complete in order to come back and that drew criticism from a lot of people, including Brown.
When Irving was allowed to play, he expressed contrition for tweeting the link and made it clear that he doesn’t support any forms of hate or prejudice. It’s unclear if the team-imposed suspension hastened Irving’s wanting out, but it may not have slowed it down either. Brown gave his thoughts on Irving being suspended including the fact that he believes that the suspension violated the CBA to Logan Murdock of The Ringer:
“That’s my job as vice president of the union. The union is supposed to be an entity to protect the players, especially their rights and their freedom of speech. I feel like what the Brooklyn Nets did, I still feel the same way, it was inappropriate. I think it was like a public ransom note almost, in a sense, where he had a list of demands he had to do to return to the game. It was a violation of our CBA. It’s a violation of our agreement and kind of got looked over like it was nothing.”
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