Kyrie Irving has made his stance clear – he's not going to get the COVID-19 vaccine. At this point in time, it seems as though his position isn't going to change anytime soon. That could pose a huge problem for the Brooklyn Nets.
The buzz around non-vaccinated NBA players and the consequences that their decisions could bring on the court are just starting to come to light with the recent news surrounding Andrew Wiggins in Golden State.
The Warriors forward would potentially have to sit out home games given San Francisco's mandate that requires pro athletes being fully vaccinated to play in their arenas. The same rules apply in Brooklyn.
Matt Sullivan of The Rolling Stone dropped an eye-opening bombshell piece on Kyrie Irving, and a small but vocal minority of NBA stars fighting against the vaccine. It gave some key insight into the mercurial star's mindset on the COVID-19 vaccination policies as the NBA season draws closer.
Via The Rolling Stone:
When asked directly about Irving’s vaccination status — or his plans to change it — multiple people familiar with his thinking declined to answer directly. But one confidant and family member floated to Rolling Stone the idea of anti-vaxx players skipping home games to dodge the New York City ordinance… or at least threatening to protest them, until the NBA changes its ways.
According to Kyrie Irving's aunt, it seems as though the Nets star is more likely to try to work around the rule than actually get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“There are so many other players outside of him who are opting out, I would like to think they would make a way,” says Kyrie’s aunt, Tyki Irving, who runs the seven-time All-Star’s family foundation and is one of the few people in his regular circle of advisors. “It could be like every third game. So it still gives you a full season of being interactive and being on the court, but with the limitations that they’re, of course, oppressing upon you. There can be some sort of formula where the NBA and the players can come to some sort of agreement.”
Kyrie Irving doesn't strike most as the type who would abandon his beliefs, however misguided, in order to abide by the rules. He's the world's most famous flat-earther, constantly breaks NBA media protocols, and mysteriously left the Nets last season for exact reasons unknown. His enigmatic beliefs seem to fit hand in glove with the way he's approaching his hesitancy towards the COVID-19 vaccine. Irving even reportedly follows a conspiracy theorist claiming that the dose contains a microchip with a plot against Black people in the name of the devil himself.
“He is going to try to figure that out as it comes, because it’s not religious-based, it’s moral-based,” says Irving’s aunt Tyki. “You may have to sit on the sideline, you might not have to be in the arena during this.
If it’s that freaking important to get a vaccine that, hell, it’s still not preventing the Covid” — which it is — “then I’d rather them working it out that way than to say, ‘Hey, if you don’t get the vaccine, then you can’t be a part of the franchise that you fuckin’ helped build.’”
Unless the NBA does provide a compromise for its stars, like Kyrie's aunt suggests, his beliefs could have huge ramifications for Brooklyn. The Nets could very well face a reality in which Kyrie Irving holds out, which would mean that he'd have to miss every single home game. Should he ultimately decide to do that, it opens a massive can of worms that complicates the Nets' pursuit of a title.
Would they intentionally throw games to lose home-court advantage com playoff time, given that Irving would be able to play more games on the road? Would they consider trading him to team, like say the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons, which doesn't have the same city restrictions? Everything is in play in the coming weeks.
The Brooklyn Nets aren't feeling the pressure as much right now, with the season still weeks away and reports just starting to surface. But as we slowly march closer to opening night, the wild new circumstances they might have to face will become that much more real.
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