As the Brooklyn Nets look to maximize their outlook for the remainder of the 2021-22 NBA regular season, the team remains unable to have Kyrie Irving in the lineup for home games.
Despite being unable to play in home games, Irving was in attendance at Barclays Center to watch his alma mater Duke take on Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament. No mask, no vaccine, nothing. Just in attendance at the game as if he were a fan at a Nets game.
Many have sought an athlete’s exemption to New York City’s current policies given the bizarre nature of how a player on the team can attend an event at the same venue they are unable to play at.
Irving was recently asked about New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his handling of the situation and was rather sympathetic in his response:
“Shoutout Eric Adams, man,” Irving said after the Nets’ 126-120 loss to the Boston Celtics last Sunday. “It’s not an easy job to be the mayor of New York City. And with COVID looming, the vaccination mandates, everything going on in our world, with this war in the Ukraine, and everybody feeling it across America, I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right now trying to delegate whether or not one basketball player can come and play at home. I appreciate his comments and his stance. He knows where I stand.
LATEST NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Kyrie Irving Reveals Honest Thoughts On James Harden Trade
“And I know one day we’ll be able to break bread together and he’ll be able to come to the games and hopefully we’ll move past this time like it never happened in our sense.
“But, it’s just the reality that it’s been difficult on a lot of us in New York City and across the world. So, I know he’s feeling it and I’m just grateful that he’s on my side, as well as the commissioner [of the NBA].”
LATEST NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Kyrie Irving Reveals Honest Thoughts On James Harden Trade
The Nets have nine of their remaining 15 regular-season games at home and likely will be without Irving if they face the Toronto Raptors in the play-in tournament given the restrictions both New York City and Toronto currently have in place.
Whether there is a change to the New York City policies remains to be seen before the start of the 2022 NBA playoffs remains to be seen. If not, the Eastern Conference landscape becomes much easier for rival teams to navigate in potential matchups with the Brooklyn Nets.
