Durant: Nets 'could have kept quiet' about Irving, tumult

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kevin Durant said Friday the Brooklyn Nets could have handled this tumultuous week a bit differently — a week in which his coach was fired and teammate Kyrie Irving was suspended for posting a link to an antisemitic work.

Then Durant clarified on Twitter that he doesn't condone hate speech and “is about spreading love always.”

Durant spoke Friday at the Nets' shootaround in Washington ahead of the evening's game against the Wizards. When asked what he thought of Irving’s recent conduct, which landed the guard a suspension of at least five games, Durant said: “I ain’t here to judge nobody or talk down on nobody for how they feel, their views or anything. I just didn’t like anything that went on.

"I felt like it was all unnecessary. I felt like we could have just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization.”

Within an hour, Durant followed up via a tweet.

“Just wanna clarify the statements I made at shootaround, I see some people are confused,” he said. “I don’t condone hate speech or anti-semetism (sic), I’m about spreading love always. Our game Unites people and I wanna make sure that’s at the forefront.”

Irving did apologize in an Instagram post for not explaining the specific beliefs he agreed and disagreed with when he posted about the documentary.

Nets general manager Sean Marks said Friday that the team has had some dialogue with Irving, but not enough given the circumstances.

“The organization has made multiple attempts to get with Kyrie and his representation and to have them clarify his feelings and put out a sense of remorse for this, and that obviously didn’t happen, and he refused to disavow that until his tweet last night,” Marks said.

Marks said Irving’s apology was a step,