Not the same player post injury. Also not right in the head. There’s a reason the bulls traded for him and cut him just 2 months later.
People also can get fired for pissing off their bosses, for personal reasons & petty reasons. Rockets didn't get rid of Harden because of his off-court life. It's because he went into Operation Shutdown, put on the fat suit, and basically called out the entire franchises as sorry losers he can't play for. Harden had protected freedom to express his position, but doesn't mean the club had to go along with it. Maybe there's LGBTQ in the front office, the coach has LGBTQ family, maybe he has closeted gay teammates. WNBA is very LGBTQ, so now it can be offending connected leagues, etc. Where sponsorships can get affected Meaning it's real people involved, and not a distant unconnected matter
Its also about 'how' things are expressed. Form does matter. Example. The Hawks were having a promo night for Magic City, the STRIP CLUB. At an NBA game with KIDS. (Team owners have some stake in Magic City, so cross promotional tie-in). Christian Luke Kornet wrote a statement urging to stop it. Because it's not protecting women, anti family friendly, and represents a bad image for the league. The league did step in and stop that promo night. Showing that people did come to their senses and not allow that kind of degradation. Thats even with the league already selling out to gambling & other things. So it's not about "Christianity" and "political party" itself. It's about how the issues are addressed. Kornet never said he was Christian and put any pastor purity pulpit to it. That was a more effective way of stating beliefs. Ivey's way of expressing seems its more a "him" issue than about his ideology
This may be controversial, but the problem is that MOST PEOPLE nowdays think they are bigger than the program. You have a right to free speech, but you also have the responsibility to accept whatever consequences come with it. That’s what makes having strong unpopular beliefs a brave thing to do because you ARE sacrificing potential income or social status and the company and the organization also can choose to not employ you or pay you too. So even if the company is operating intentionally with an agenda, then they can do it because it’s THEIR COMPANY. You can choose to not work for them and if you really believe in whatever you believe in, then you should go find an employer that aligns with your beliefs or become a company owner and start your own company that is specifically for others that believe in your specific beliefs. But most people like that are hypocrites and closed minded and can’t see outside of themselves.
People who want to talk about double-standards or freedom of speech, go ahead. But let's not forget that a guy most of us on here love, at least for his contributions on the court is Vernon Maxwell. Remember all the off the court and behind the scenes drama? From openly defying Rudy and trying to fight team mates, not just hit but actually pick up dumbbells and things that could've severely injured or even killed someone, to things like sleeping with prostitutes, saying nobody wants Magic Johnson around in 1996 since he had AIDS etc. In today's era that would not fly. So just take that into account, even if it's a different era. Also do people deserve second chances and forgiveness? As far as Ivey goes, I'm not even going to watch what he says but if any of that anti-LGBTQ+ and catholic religion is true then he needs to seriously consider his motivations to say it. Is he trying to get cancelled so he can still get money and talk about conspiracies to shut him down? So that he can go full nutjob with saying it's the devil that came for him since he's such a righteous christian or some ****? I know even great individuals who are on TV, looking at you Denzel, have this belief of the devil coming for those who are successful thing (Will Smith slap incident). So he might have just taken inspiration from that for his future self-indulgent sob story. The bigger issue regardless of what he's trying to do and whether he's serious about basketball or not is that everyone nowadays has a platform, think their opinion matters and it's lead to a lot of delusional people. I feel sorry for today's youth, it's likely very tough to navigate that world. But when you are simply a basketball player and then start to preach, claim or talk about things like science, religion or things like slavery, then know there are consequences, you are at least somewhat delusional and that people do not care how you feel about any of it. Unless it's just on a personal level, like how do you stay so confident, what's your routine, how you stay grounded or navigate the groupies, fame etc. But this era is getting so tiresome with this type of ****. From Ball brothers father inserting himself into conversations, to the Kyrie drama, to the slavery comments made by Iggy and Draymond, to some piggybacking off of that playing for an owner and being traded like an item is equivalent to it, to Draymond's bullshit in general and former players going all ignorantly blabbing their mouths with everyone having their show, podcast etc. So basically this social media era has lead to every Michael, Jaden and Rashad feeling their opinion is something we need to hear about, that their ego is so big and somehow the use of an interview or speaking your mind publicly no longer needs to require certain standards or require decorum. And therefore the most ignorant, private and excessive is just shared as if the world revolves around them. It's sad to see any person going out like this and hope he realizes rather sooner than later that maybe it's better to just do a proper interview so you can speak on what is going on, why you said what you said, etc. before owners will deem you not worthy of the trouble to keep you around. Doing your own IG or whatever story like this is not just simply freedom of speech. And though I respect Kyrie for at least speaking on controversial topics and going against reporters and journalists who are out to get him, he's lucky he's as good as he is, or else he would've been out of the league long ago. We need a mentor program in the league honestly, where old school dudes can teach them something about their privilege, remind them why to do things a certain way and keep their ego in check.
Agreed, but maybe he cares more about what he thinks is right and wrong, more than he cares about a basketball game or his career for that matter. He's to be commended for standing his ground.
Yes, as JI says there is much more to life than how many points you score in a basketball game. Humorous that people think he’d be a negative when you have Jabrari screaming the “N” word on the court and KD screaming $&@“sucker on the court to fans and players, yet JI just humbly preaching the gospel. Has anyone ever considered that could help the team rather than having players go to social media to call each other “re$&$ed”. This team needs a little more love and a lot less hate.
Have to disagree with you there DD. It's what keeps the fabric of society and human interaction respectful and prosperous.
Did Ivey say he hated gays or something? I didnt watch the whole video just maybe 30 seconds. And Christ preaching love is true, but that’s not the whole picture. He also confronted wrongdoing directly. He didn’t just smile and affirm everyone no matter what they were doing, he literally drove the "merchants" (we know who the merchants were) out of the temple when they were corrupting a sacred place. So invoking Jesus as if He never rebuked anyone is incomplete.
