Kyrie Irving made his Nets home debut in Friday’s preseason finale and found out that the drama over the Hong Kong protests had followed the team all the way back to Brooklyn.
Irving scored a game-high 19 points in 123-107 loss to the Raptors in a contest that saw dozens of protestors seating diagonally from the Nets bench wearing black shirts that read, “Stand With Hong Kong,” and another group clad in white shirts that read, “Free Tibet.”
The Nets couldn’t help but notice them. Despite the Nets and Lakers essentially being muzzled by the communist Chinese government last week in Shanghai and Shenzhen, and largely staying quiet since returning, Irving had his say about his talk in China with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and his feelings on the situation in general.
“Listen, I stand for four things: inner peace, freedom, equality and world peace, man. So if that’s being conflicted inside of me, I’m definitely going to have something to say, and I left it in that room,” Irving said of his conversation with Silver.
“And Adam, my teammates — I obviously speak for myself — but have a mutual respect of all the guys in the locker room. We talked about it as a team, we made a group decision and went forward to play the game. That’s just what it was.”
Nets coach Kenny Atkinson declined to comment on the fans wearing pro-Hong Kong attire and chanting about team owner Joe Tsai, who lives in Hong Kong and penned an impassioned open letter explaining how the protests are a sensitive nerve in mainland China that Houston GM Daryl Morey unwittingly irritated.
Irving said he understands why fans who feel strongly would protest, but said there are enough issues domestically for him to touch on.
“When you think about communities across the world, a lot of people would stand for world peace,” Irving said. “Government gets involved, it impacts different communities in different ways. And the reality is as individuals it’s our job to stand up for what we believe in. Now, I understand Hong Kong and China are dealing with their issues, respectively. But there’s enough oppression and stuff going on in America for me not to be involved in the community issues here as well.
“That’s one of those four pillars that goes in terms of the black community, colored people here in America. We’re fighting for everyday freedoms. So when I think about Hong Kong and China, the people are in an uproar, and for us as Americans to comment on it, African Americans or American Indians to comment on that, you’re connected nonetheless, especially when it impacts freedoms or world peace. So for me as an individual, I stand up for those four pillars, and when they’re being conflicted, I can understand why protestors come to the games.”