Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving said "you have to stand up" when explaining why he offered to cover Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair's Week 1 NFL fine. Al-Shaair was fined $11,941 after wearing the name Hind Rajab on his eye black during the Texans' season opener against the Buffalo Bills. Rajab was a Palestinian girl killed in Gaza in January 2024. After the discipline was announced, Irving posted on X, "I'll take care of his fine."
"He's a friend of mine," Irving said after the Mavericks' 128-110 season-opening loss to the Houston Rockets. "He's a brother that I consider in this revolution that a lot of this generation is building. It's a selfless act when you can show up for others that don't necessarily have a voice for themselves." Irving also spoke about innocent people losing their lives in conflicts around the world, saying that Americans enjoy comforts while tax dollars fund actions they may not agree with.
Al-Shaair has faced repeated penalties for violating the NFL uniform policy, which prohibits personal messages without prior approval. He has been fined multiple times for messages supporting Palestine since the start of the current war, which began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people. Israel's military offensive has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. In Week 2, Al-Shaair wore the name Wafaa Akila on his eye black during warmups and complied when a league official said he could not play otherwise. He was also fined $11,593 in January for "stop the genocide" on his eye black.
Al-Shaair has said he is displeased with the NFL's response and described the writing on his eye black as "just all names you can Google." He told ESPN, "I put somebody's name," urging people to look up the names and form their own views.
Source: ESPN NBA · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing