Kyrie Irving was only eligible to appear in three more road games as of Wednesday morning. But it’s possible that his odds of suiting up to play in Brooklyn Nets home games just saw a major major boost.
Shams Charania of The Athletic suggested he can play as soon as Sunday versus the Charlotte Hornets.
Kyrie Irving is eligible to make his home debut at Barclays Center on Sunday vs. the Charlotte Hornets, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. New NYC exemption for in-town athletes and performers will be effective immediately beginning Thursday.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 23, 2022
Rewind. Earlier in the day we got this update, according to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski writing with Jeff Passan:
“The progress toward further changes to New York City's private-sector vaccine mandate has inspired confidence that Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving could be back on the court for home games at the Barclays Center in the near future and that New York Yankees and Mets players who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine would be cleared to play at home prior to Opening Day in April, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
New York Mayor Eric Adams' office has been working with health officials on a plan that would impact more than only unvaccinated, high-profile professional athletes in the area, sources said, and although no final decision has been made, there's increasing hope that a rollback of the mandate that restricts NBA and MLB players from participating in home games will be lifted in the near future.”
So we know Nets fans have gotten their hopes up that Kyrie Irving might be eligible in Brooklyn many times this year. But this time it kind of seems more real. Prior to the road tilt versus the Ja Morant-less Memphis Grizzlies, one of just three games Irving can play in barring change, head coach Steve Nash was asked to comment on the latest.
Mind you, Nash didn't see the Shams bomb yet. And clearly, he didn't want to jinx anything.
Steve Nash was asked about a recent report that Kyrie Irving can possibly play Nets home games.
"I would welcome that." (reporters laughing). pic.twitter.com/AULuxYbLqW
— DaveEarly (@DavidEarly) March 23, 2022
It was pointed out to Nash that Politico reported just “minutes ago” that NYC Mayor Eric Adams is set to lift the vaccine mandate for unvaccinated local athletes in conjunction with MLB Baseball season.
Nash's four-word response prompted a big laugh from reporters in Memphis. “I would welcome that,” Nash said before flashing a cheeky grin. “I don't want to say anything else about the matter.”
It was clear his tacit message was basically, hey after the last 18 months we've had, with all of the setbacks, we're simply not going to get our hopes up and jinx anything. But you know how we feel.
Nash was next asked if it's weird to him that it took the New York Yankees and New York Mets pushing for the same cause to finally (potentially) precipitate change. Did that say something about the place of basketball in the whole matter?
“I don't know that I should say anything about it right now,” Nash admitted. “Let's just wait and see when the chips come in.”
So the way things sit right now, Irving would be eligible to play in all 10 of their remaining regular season games. He could also play in all playoff or Play-In games barring Toronto since local rules won't change the Canadian rules for Toronto Raptors games.
The Yankees' home opener is on April 7th. The NBA Play-In begins on April 12th. So if this all goes down then, Irving would give this team a seismic lineup boost. And this vaults the Nets right back to the top of the food chain in the Eastern Conference despite not even having a top four record. No team at the top of the standings wants to have to host a fully available Brooklyn team. This signifies a total nightmare for teams like the Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.
The Nets may have finally gotten the change they're looking for with a lift from the Yankees.
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