An army of strawmen with Kyrie at the helm

The exchange between Kyrie Irving and Nick Friedell, which took place at a press conference following a loss to the Indiana Pacers by Irving’s Brooklyn Nets, doesn’t so much end as fizzle and fade into the radio static of two stations buzzing and rattling simultaneously, not communicating or conversing, just making sounds.

For his part, Friedell stayed professionally on track. He wants to know why Irving, a basketball player, felt motivated to share Alex Jones content on his Twitter profile. While asking for Irving’s motivation, Friedell never challenges Irving with the authoritarian parameters of just stick to sports or shut up and dribble. Friedell also does not seem to be in the business of looking for consequences or suspensions. What he’s done at the onset of the exchange is give Irving a platform to explain himself.

But Irving does not want to explain himself. While irritated throughout, the moment in the exchange where Irving appears to take particular offense is when Friedell starts a statement by saying, “What you have to understand is.” Friedell seems to be saying that what Irving needs to understand is that people looking at Irving’s retweet will likely take offense to Irving posting what many will deem to be antisemitic or in support of someone like Alex Jones. Friedell’s trying to throw the Nets point guard a lifeline. But Irving…