Nets star Kyrie Irving hasn’t played a single minute of NBA basketball this season.
Irving has infamously refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which is currently a requirement for Irving to play in his home stadium. Eventually, the Nets decided not to let him play at all until he was able to join the team full-time.
But, as it turns out, we might end up seeing Kyrie play this season after all.
According to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, Kyrie’s “hiatus” doesn’t exempt him from participating in the All-Star game. If he’s voted in, it could be the first and only game he plays all season.
When the ballot for the 2022 NBA All-Star game is released, multiple sources have confirmed to The Post that Kyrie Irving is expected to be on it.
When the NBA updated its All-Star voting process, all players on the rosters were put on the ballot. Both league and team sources indicated that because Irving is still on the Nets’ official roster — sent home but not suspended — he won’t be an exception, despite not having played a second for the Nets this season.
“Inactive” players have suited up for the big game before. One well-known example is Magic Johnson, who played in the 1992 All-Star game after retiring from basketball with HIV just three months earlier.
This situation with Irving is different for various reasons, but it’s still pretty wild to think that he might make a cameo appearance during All-Star weekend as the Nets continue to play on without him.
It remains to be seen, however, if the fans will even vote him in. Irving’s decisions have drawn a lot of criticism by plenty of people and it’s possible that the world isn’t quite ready to “forgive” him just yet.
Nevertheless, this Kyrie situation just keeps getting weirder.
