Kyrie Irving has caught a lot of attention from the media due to his refusal to get vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus. He was forced to miss home games for the Brooklyn Nets this year, and he was the most high-profile player to not get the vaccine.
While most of the media attention focused on Kyrie Irving, a recent report by Josh Kosman and Brian Lewis of The New York Post revealed that Kyrie Irving was not the only Brooklyn Nets player who didn’t want to get vaccinated for the virus. The report noted that the original version of NYC’s vaccine mandate would have allowed Kyrie Irving to suit up and play.
De Blasio’s initial executive order on Aug. 16 initially specified among the exemptions, “A nonresident professional athlete/sports team who enters a covered premises as part of their regular employment for purposes of competing.”
That meant Irving — who lives in West Orange, N.J. — would’ve been eligible to play despite not adhering to the vaccine mandate. It would’ve also provided a path for any other Nets to remain unvaccinated and still suit up. In theory, under the original mandate, any unvaccinated player could have temporarily moved outside the city and still played.
“Kyrie wasn’t the only one on the Nets who didn’t want to get vaccinated,” a source with direct knowledge of the situation told The Post.
“No one was expecting the mandate the way in which he wouldn’t be able to play. No one expected it,” a source close to Irving said. “The entire thing was that vaccination was absolutely going to be a choice and not anything that was forced.
“There were conversations around that whole artist component, so if you were an artist visiting from outside — also if you didn’t live in New York City — you’d be allowed to play. When the mandate came down everybody was confused because no one expected for it to take on that tone … everybody was a little surprised.”
The vaccine mandate in New York City has since been lifted, and Kyrie Irving would in theory be able to be a full-time player next season. However, it remains to be seen if he will remain on the Brooklyn Nets, as he has been part of a lot of trade speculation lately.
Hopefully, we see Kyrie Irving find success in the future no matter what franchise he is on. He is a mercurial player, and one of the greatest talents the game has ever seen. We will see if that talent can translate into wins next year, and Kyrie Irving will certainly be ready to go after missing a good number of games in the 2021-22 season.
