Kyrie Irving Offers to Pay Texans Linebacker's NFL Fine Over Gaza Tribute Eye Black

Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving offered on Wednesday, September 16, to pay a fine the NFL issued to Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair. "I'll take care of his fine," Irving wrote on X.

Al-Shaair was fined for writing "Hind Rajab" on his eye black during the Texans' Week 1 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Rajab was a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza City on January 29, 2024, along with six family members, when the vehicle they were riding in came under Israeli military fire, according to CBS Sports. CBS reported the Israeli military acknowledged the killing and opened an internal investigation last month. That investigation has not concluded, and no findings have been released.

What the fine was actually for

Reports disagree on the exact dollar figure. Fox News, Breitbart, BasketNews, Middle East Eye and Anadolu Agency all put the fine at $11,492. NBC Sports, CBS Sports and Yahoo Sports list it as $11,941. Neither figure has been confirmed by the NFL directly in these reports, and the amount is minor next to Al-Shaair's contract, which averages $18 million a year, according to NBC Sports.

The league did not fine Al-Shaair for the content of his message. Yahoo Sports cited the NFL's uniform and equipment rules, specifically "Article 8," which bars any personal message, illustration, or memorial item displayed during a game unless approved in advance by the league office. The rule also explicitly states the league won't approve items tied to political causes, campaigns, or charitable causes of any kind. It's a blanket ban, not a Gaza-specific one, though critics could reasonably ask why the league enforces it selectively or inconsistently across other causes over the years.

Not his first eye-black fine

This is Al-Shaair's second penalty for the same kind of violation in less than a year. He was fined $11,593 in January 2026 for writing "Stop the Genocide" on his eye black during a playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to Anadolu Agency. NBC Sports reported he was warned afterward that he would not be allowed to play in the divisional round at New England if he tried it again.

Al-Shaair has used the NFL's "My Cause, My Cleats" program to spotlight Palestinian causes in past seasons, wearing cleats supporting the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, per Middle East Eye. He also wore cleats last year listing a disputed Palestinian casualty count, which Breitbart noted doesn't reference the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that started the war. Supporters of Israel have raised that a tribute focused solely on one side's losses, without acknowledging what triggered the conflict, tells an incomplete story. Al-Shaair, for his part, said last year, "If my platform can bring even a little hope to families in Palestine, then that is what I want to use it for," according to CBS Sports.

Al-Shaair also carries baggage unrelated to Gaza. He was suspended three games in 2024 for a hit on a sliding Trevor Lawrence, which he initially defended and called critics "racist" over, before later apologizing and describing the play as "just competition," per Breitbart.

Irving's own history

Irving's offer fits a pattern. He wore a shirt reading "PRESS" at the NBA All-Star Game in February 2026 to honor Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza, according to Middle East Eye, and has appeared publicly in a keffiyeh.

But Irving isn't a clean messenger on this front. In 2022, while with the Brooklyn Nets, he shared a link to a film containing Holocaust denial and antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish people and the slave trade, according to Fox News. The Nets suspended him eight games and called him "unfit to be associated" with the franchise at the time. Irving later posted an apology on Instagram. None of the sources here indicate he's revisited or repudiated that episode beyond the original apology.

The bigger picture

Irving's gesture landed the same week Ed Sheeran dropped Macklemore from remaining U.S. tour dates after Macklemore made pro-Palestine remarks onstage, according to Middle East Eye. Patriots owner Robert Kraft publicly said he objected to Macklemore performing at Gillette Stadium, framing his concern as opposition to antisemitic rhetoric, not opposition to Palestinian advocacy itself, Kraft said.

The unresolved question is what the NFL does next. Al-Shaair is now two-for-two on unauthorized eye-black fines in eight months, and the league has already signaled it will bench him rather than fine him a third time. Whether he tests that threshold again in Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals, and whether the league actually follows through, remains to be seen.