Nets Won’t Play Kyrie Irving Until He Meets Vaccine Requirement

Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets is not going to be playing in his team’s home Barclays Center until he gets the COVID-19 vaccine. That’s right, the Brooklyn Nets announced Tuesday that they won’t play Irving until he has complied with the local health requirement.

Until now, the Brooklyn Nets have led the Eastern Conference for much of the season. Their record stands at 23-12, a few games ahead of the second place Chicago Bulls. They had a shot to make the playoffs and win the NBA championship. However, they were beaten out by the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Nets have been playing well in Irving’s absence. Head coach Steve Nash said that the team was ready to go without Irving at home. He added that they had practiced in the San Diego area for a week before making the move. However, he said the Nets had no choice but to send Irving away until he was fully recovered.

This is not to say that the city has ruled against Irving. But that doesn’t mean the Nets will continue to let him take the court. A decision on that front is expected Friday. As with the rest of the city, officials will evaluate the numbers and decide on a course of action.

In the past, the NBA has not required players to be vaccinated. However, the league recently agreed to pay up to a hefty reduction in compensation for unvaccinated players. On the bright side, there’s no such thing as being too safe. There are plenty of restrictions on how and when you can spend time with your teammates, and the NBA does its best to mitigate the risk of bringing the infectious disease onto the team.

While the Nets did not offer up the exact timetable for when they’ll announce that Kyrie Irving has complied with the local vaccination mandate, they did release a statement on Tuesday saying that Irving would be welcome to return to Brooklyn if the mandate were to change. It’s not clear what the exact path will be, but there’s no doubt that the Nets are taking a hard stance on participation.

As for the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s not going to be easy for the Nets to comply with the upcoming rule. Unlike the Knicks, which can rely on their medical staff to handle the task, the Nets will have to go it alone. They’ll have to come up with a plan for how to administer the vaccine in the most effective manner. If they can’t do it, they could be subject to fines and a slew of other penalties.

In the end, the local vaccine mandate is an important safeguard against the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. However, the NBA’s own list of vaccine-related achievements was a surprisingly low-key affair. Despite the best efforts of players like Kyrie Irving, the league’s vaccinated rosters amounted to only a fraction of the team’s total.