New York City Mayor Eric Adams has officially cleared the way for unvaccinated athletes like Kyrie Irving. With nine games to go in the regular season, the first on the road in Miami, Irving can suit up for his 2022 Barclays Center debut on Sunday to battle LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets.

On Thursday, Mayor Adams made the decision official and explained some of his rationale. Some of the key phrasing, courtesy of SNYNets on Twitter:

“…not only the game of baseball but that's the game of life. And we have to be on the field in order to win in both [baseball] and the game of life….today I signed emergency executive order 62 expanding the performance exemption to private employer mandates. This is about putting New York City based performers on a level playing field. Day one, when I was Mayor, I looked at the rule that was stated home town players had an unfair disadvantage for those who were coming to visit and immediately I felt we needed to look at that but medical professionals said ‘Eric we at a different place. We have to wait….we're here today…. unimaginable, we were treating our performers differently because they lived and played for home teams. That's not acceptable. This exemption has been put in our sports teams as at a self imposed competitive disadvantage but this new order will help boost our economy.

No matter what your politics, it's hard not to squint when the Mayor says “treating our performers differently.” If it was some terrible act to ban non-vaccinated players from playing in home games, then he's still treating thousands more working class stiffs “differently.” Someone who works for the education system doesn't deserve the chance to “take the field” and “try to help some student win the game of life?” So he's treating people who make hundreds of millions a lot differently than he's treating those folks with jobs like most of us. If only the people who lost their jobs had Major League Baseball in their corner to find work again.

But “we're doing it because the city has to function,” Adams said, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.

So Irving can play, along with some unvaccinated New York Mets and New York Yankees. And only now can the city function, we suppose. Whew. A city can function when athletes can work unvaccinated but the education workers are less vital to a functioning metropolis. Got it?

The optics of a rule that allowed unvaccinated athletes from teams like the Indiana Pacers or Washington Wizards to come to Barclays Center and help beat the Nets while Irving couldn't even enter the arena were never clean. It made no sense and Kevin Durant called the Mayor out for not fixing that weeks ago.

But back when the COVID numbers were still soaring heading into early winter not everyone locally was up in arms about pulling back on the health and safety reins.

Then as the hospitalization and death numbers improved, like the Mayor talks about, as the city began to peel back on vaccine and mask mandates, as Irving was even allowed to buy a ticket and watch, unmasked, as Kevin Durant played a home game, the perception started to shift more and more.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he didn't love this rule back in February. Mayor Adams commented on the same thing a few times, even cracking that a Boston Celtics fan made the rule.

But just because that one odd loophole is gone doesn't mean everything makes total sense now. Recall, just recently NYC fired more than 1,430 workers who refused vaccines. There was no mention today by Adams that this exception would apply to them. Did education workers not contribute to this functioning society he talks about but athletes do? Why are clean-up hitters or point guards more important than math teachers? What message does that send about the value of a professional?

On the other hand, in a state where 89.3 percent of folks vaccine eligible got the shot, they may prefer to know their children's teachers are fully vaccinated and not care as much about some players on their television set after a hard day of work. It's pretty complicated.

So now we have the optics that the filthy rich get to avoid vaccines while some working class people are out of work. And Kyrie's message, that he isn't anti-vax but did this for the people who lost their jobs, how do those people he was fighting for feel today? Are they happy he can play or are they outraged he gets to work when they still cannot? Will he choose not to play in order to continue to stand with them? If he doesn't, is it hypocritical or indicative he has changed his mind about the issue?

Irving was apparently willing to miss the entire season and lose a $200 million-plus long-term deal that would have been available to him from Joe Tsai and the Nets at one point. That was a principled stand. But it will be interesting to see if his principles have shifted.

An Editorial in the New York Post calls for fairness “Don't just let unvaxxed stars work in NYC, Mr. Mayor, – free the little guys, too.”

Mayor Adams claims he was not pressured. But even basketball fans, absolutely thrilled with this outcome, have noted that if it weren't for the billion dollar baseball chops getting into the mix, things may not have changed. Indeed, in the Mayor's presser he said in baseball and in life, we need to be on the field in order to win.

Many folks can probably agree there was some pressure. And now this issue is far from clean. There are very valid points on all sides. We won't do it justice in an update like this. But here's what you need to know as a hoops fan. The Brooklyn Nets are technically clinging to their playoff hopes in the standings. With Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving full-time, they'll have a real shot to thank Mayor Adams in person on a parade float. And no matter what people's politics they might get behind that. Unless they're New York Knicks fans. Nothing is simple except the fact that the Nets are now in the hunt.