Kobe Bryant and Kyrie Irving forged an incredible bond with one another during the limited amount of times they played against each other. Their relationship truly started to take form while playing for Team USA when Kyrie called out the Lakers veteran to a one-on-one game with thousands of dollars on the line.
Advertisement
When asked who he was closest to in the NBA, Kobe said that it was Kyrie. The former Cavs superstar Facetimed Bryant from his locker room the moment they won Game 7 against the Warriors, telling him that his advice had worked.
Fast-forward to today and Irving is currently suspended from both the Brooklyn Nets and Nike, with the latter cancelling the release of his Kyrie 8 shoe. This is due to the fact that he promoted a movie filled with antisemitic tropes.
Kobe, who never did anything of the sort, did get into a back-and-forth with a Jewish reporter in 2006.
Kobe Bryant claimed that he wouldn’t mind being Jewish when talking to a reporter of the same heritage
During the latter end of the 2005-06, Kobe Bryant was asked about the lack of Jewish athletes in the sporting world. During this conversation, he would actually say, “I wouldn’t mind being Jewish. I wouldn’t mind. Really.”
In response to the Jewish reporter asking about how rare it is to see Jewish athletes, Bryant sarcastically responded with, “Not too many Jews in professional sports? Hmmm. That sounds kind of weird to me. Who did your research?”
The 5x champion would then go on to list several names in the sporting realm that were in fact of Jewish heritage. Guys like Dolph Schayes and Jon Scheyer were named by Bryant as examples for Jewish players in professional sports.
Kobe would then confirm at the time that he wasn’t sure if he would be converting to Judaism any time soon but if he was, his name could be added to that list of Jewish athletes.
What did Kyrie Irving do to get suspended?
After putting up a screenshot of the movie ‘Hebrews to Negroes’ on his Twitter, Kyrie Irving was called to delete the post and apologize. This was due to the fact that there were several hateful things being said and displayed in that documentary towards the Jewish community.
Instead of apologizing, Irving beat around the bush a little too much. Joe Tsai and the Nets had seen enough and as a result, they suspended him for 5 games at the minimum.
