HOUSTON -- Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving said "you have to stand up" when addressing Wednesday night why he offered to cover Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair's Week 1 NFL fine.
Al-Shaair was fined $11,941 after he wore 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 news of the NFL's discipline, 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. ... I think small instances of revolutionary acts like wearing people's names or wearing a child's name like Hind Rajab on your face and taking the fine and stepping up to the plate."
Rajab was killed, along with five other members of her family, when Israeli forces opened fire on their car in Gaza City. Initially, she survived and called emergency dispatchers; however, Israeli troops fired upon an ambulance that was sent as well. Twelve days later, Rajab and her relatives were found dead in their car, as were two medics nearby. The Israeli military acknowledged in August that it opened fire on the vehicles and said it had opened a criminal investigation.
"I believe most of us know what is happening around the world globally," Irving said. "And it's a lot of innocent people that are losing their lives and children, especially. Anytime there's a war or conflict, there's going to be unfortunate deaths and murders going on. And us here in America, we get the luxury of going to bed at night and have nice bedrooms and things paid for. When our tax dollars are going towards things that we don't necessarily agree with, you have to stand up."
The September fine wasn't the first time Al-Shaair has faced repercussions for violating the NFL uniform policy, which prohibits players from displaying personal messages without prior approval. He has received multiple fines for wearing messages on his eye black showing support to Palestine since the start of the current war, which was sparked when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 251 others. Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians while vehemently rejecting the accusation of genocide from a growing chorus of organizations and experts.
In Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Al-Shaair wore the name Wafaa Akila, another Palestinian girl killed in Gaza by an Israeli strike, on his eye black during warmups, according to The Athletic. Al-Shaair confirmed to ESPN that a league official told him he wouldn't be allowed to play unless he removed the eye black, so he complied.
He was fined $11,593 in January for having "stop the genocide" on his eye black during the Texans' wild-card win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Al-Shaair has said he is displeased with the response from the NFL and that the writing on his eye black is "just all names you can Google."
"It's not controversial to call it a genocide," Al-Shaair told ESPN. "But that's fine, let's play that game. I didn't put none of that. I put somebody's name. ... Look them up. You tell me what that is and then you tell me what you think about that. If you had a son or a daughter right now, and they're trapped inside a school with a school shooter, and they bomb your entire school looking for one person. And they say, 'Hey, we got our guy,' but your kids and everybody else in the school is dead. Would you be happy that they got the one guy, or would you sit there and say, 'What the f--- is wrong with you guys?'"
In September, Al-Shaair told local reporters that he and Irving had "talked multiple times," and that they're "aligned on the cause, which is humanity."
Irving concluded his answer Wednesday night by adding "This mission is bigger than just me and Azeez."