Kyrie Irving Discusses Players' Meeting with Adam Silver in China

Nicole Sweet-USA TODAY Sports

Following the Nets' preseason game against the Raptors on Friday night, Kyrie Irving addressed the meeting NBA commissioner Adam Silver held with players in China.

The Nets returned to the court for the first time since playing the Lakers in exhibition games in Shanghai and Shenzhen last week. Groups of protestors attended the game at Barclays Center wearing T-shirts that said "Stand With Hong Kong" and "Free Tibet."

Irving elected to not share many details about Silver's meeting with the Nets and Lakers.

"I don't know whose notes, or who is in there that you can't really depend on to keep a conversation like that in house–especially when it is about the NBA brand and the NBA players being impacted by it," he said, per ESPN. "I stand for four things, man: inner peace, freedom, equality and world peace. So if that is being conflicted inside of me, I am definitely going to have something to say, and I left it in that room."

Silver talked with both teams on Oct. 9 in Shanghai ahead of their exhibition games as the fallout continued from Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's tweet supporting Hong Kong protestors.

ESPN's Rachel Nichols reported that Silver's meeting with the Lakers and Nets was "tense" and "several prominent players voiced frustration about their perception that they were being put in the middle of the dispute between the NBA and China."

LeBron James also held a players-only meeting with the Lakers and Nets, where they addressed their worries over having to address the media's questions on the controversy between the NBA and China.

Irving added on Friday night that the Nets discussed in China whether or not to play their exhibition games. 

"We talked about it as a team, we made a group decision and went forward to play the game. That's just what it was," Irving said, according to the New York Post.