Following Week 1, the NFL announced fines for four Texans players, including linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, for a message written on his eye black during Houston’s game against the Bills.

Al-Shaair was fined $11,941 for having the name “Hind Rajab” written on his eye black during Week 1. Rajab was a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza in 2024, along with six members of her family, in a car under fire from Israeli forces.

On Wednesday, Dallas Mavericks star guard Kyrie Irving wrote on social media that he plans to pay Al-Shaair’s fine.

Here’s what to know about Irving’s commitment to pay Al-Shaair’s fine.

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Kyrie Irving offers to pay NFL fine related to Pro-Palestine eye black message

During the Texans’ Week 1 matchup against the Bills, Al-Shaair wore eye black with Rajab’s name written on it. 

The NFL’s rules prohibit players from wearing items with personal messages that are not approved by the league, which is specified in Rule 6, Section 4, Article 8 of the rulebook:

“Throughout the period on game day that a player is visible to the stadium and television audience (including in pregame warmups, in the bench area, and during postgame interviews in the locker room or on the field), players are prohibited from wearing, displaying, or otherwise conveying personal messages either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the League office.”

In January, Al-Shaair received a similar fine for a message on his eye black that read “stop the genocide.” He’s remained outspoken about advocating for Palestinians and humanitarian causes, also supporting the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund through the NFL’s “My Cause, My Cleats” program.

“At the end of the day, it’s bigger than me,” Al-Shaair told reporters after the fine in January, per The Athletic. “The things that are going on make people uncomfortable, (so) imagine how those people feel. I have no affiliation or connection to these people other than the fact that I’m a human being. If you have a heart and you’re a human being, then you can see what’s going on in the world.

“When I’m walking off this field, that’s the type of stuff that I’m thinking about that I have to check myself when I’m sitting here crying about football when there’s people dying every single day.”

Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair has been fined $11,593 for wearing eye black that contained the message “stop the genocide” during last week’s wild-card game, a source told @AdamSchefter.

Al-Shaair was fined for violating NFL uniform and equipment rules by wearing eye black… pic.twitter.com/bvJdrTxaKc

— ESPN (@espn) January 18, 2026

On Wednesday, Irving said on X that he plans to “take care of” Al-Shaair’s fine.

I’ll take care of his fine https://t.co/RUo9jXkCFu

— Kyrie🤞🏾 (@KyrieIrving) September 16, 2026