Kyrie Irving has recently been taking games off for the Brooklyn Nets, for what the team has dubbed ‘personal reasons’. While it is entirely fine to take days off, it has since come out that Kyrie Irving could have violated league health protocols as related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recently, Kyrie Irving has come under fire for attending a birthday party for his sister and father. While under usual circumstances, partying with your family members would be fine, the world is currently in the middle of a pandemic, and large gatherings have been heavily discouraged. The evidence of Irving’s partying also caused the NBA to start an investigation, and there were some punishments discussed if Irving was in violation of regulations.
The NBA has formally opened a review of videos that appear to show the Nets' Kyrie Irving at a recent party without a mask
If Irving misses any games due to what is ruled a protocols violation, he would be subject to a fine of more than $460,000 per game … 1/72 of his salary
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 12, 2021
Those are hefty fines for missing games: on top of having to quarantine to stay safe, Irving will have to pay fines if he did indeed violate restrictions. The NBA has gotten a lot of praise for how they handled the COVID-19 pandemic with the bubble, but they definitely could have done better this year, with the rising amount of COVID-19 cases. The health restrictions themselves have recently been tightened in relation to the spread of the virus.
The NBA fining Irving would show that no-one is above the overall safety of the league, not even a superstar like Irving. The health restrictions were put in place to maintain everyone’s safety, and hopefully, Kyrie Irving hasn’t endangered himself or his teammates.
