At halftime of the Nets preseason contest in Philadelphia against the 76ers, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski hopped on with the ESPN2 broadcast team of Mike Breen and Doris Burke to discuss the latest on Kyrie Irving. In case you've been on a month long guided meditation in the woods with no Wifi, you probably noticed that there is a question of whether or not Kyrie Irving will be eligible to play basketball in Brooklyn this season. As of today, he would not since he is unvaccinated and there is a local New York City mandate requiring proof of vaccine.
Coach Steve Nash filled the fans in on the team's current expectations:
Steve Nash on Kyrie Irving: "I think we recognize he’s not playing home games. We’re going to have to for sure play without him this year. So it just depends on when, where and how much." #Nets #NBA
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) October 10, 2021
With quotes like that it started to feel like the Nets position was changing. Maybe they'd play some hardball.
ESPN's top NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski dropped the biggest news of the evening at halftime on ESPN2. Per Woj:
“…This is a real moment of truth for the Nets as an organization and you look at their stake holders there, obviously owner Joe Tsai, and Sean Marks their General Manager. But Kevin Durant and James Harden who have a tremendous voice in this, I think all together, they’re going to be part of that decision about whether they’re going to allow Kyrie Irving, if he doesn’t get vaccinated and is ineligibe to play home games, …are they going to let him be a part time player.… or are they going to tell him that you’re either going to be a full time player?
Woj continued:
“…That’s the question that’s hanging over the Nets right now. and if Kyrie Irving doesn’t get vaccinated…I think there's a lot riding not just Kyrie Irving’s short term future in Brooklyn but his long term future.”
Wow. This went from like zero to sixty in a matter of weeks. There was a moment, when Marks, speaking ahead of media day back in September, suggested a couple of Nets currently were not available to play in New York because of vaccination status. It didn't sound like an update that would become the biggest story in sports. But here we are.
Here, remember this one, courtesy of SNY's Ian Begley:
Nets GM Sean Marks says, due to local vaccine mandates, ‘a couple’ players would be unavailable if BKN held practice today. NYC mandate states BKN/NYK players need to be vaccinated to play/practice in city. Marks expressed confidence that all Nets will be available for the season
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) September 21, 2021
First that, then Yaron Weitzman reported that Irving was one of these ineligible players. Then media day came and went with Irving asking for “privacy” on the matter.
Fast forward and now Woj is essentially suggesting that a combination Tsai, Marks, Durant, Harden, and Nash could form an executive committee of sorts to decide if Irving will be allowed to play in half of the team's regular-season games (and obviously only road games for the playoffs/finals) or none at all.
Would that mean he's on the Nets but never around? Would that mean the team shopping him for a possible trade? What kinds of offers would there be for a max-level player in a contract year who is in this type of predicament? Might he retire if traded for Ben Simmons?
As Woj says this is a moment of truth for the Nets. They're well aware of the ultimate goal, the NBA championship. And if this limits their chances and becomes a distraction for the players ready to hoop, maybe they simply wouldn't want to bother with Irving. The Nets might well be finals favorites even without him. So they're certainly not in a terrible position. But this one is never boring. We should learn more soon.
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