Kyrie Irving has taken over the NBA’s headlines of late, and not for a particularly good reason.
With a fresh season just weeks away, the league continues to prepare for the realities of a world with COVID-19. For the league, it means adhering to the rules and guidelines set in place by each of the 28 cities.
Kyrie, who has a knack for drawing attention to himself, is unsurprisingly hesitant to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, apparently going so far as to suggest that “secret societies” could be involved in the process.
(via Rolling Stone)
[Kyrie] Irving, who serves as a vice president on the executive committee of the players’ union, recently started following and liking Instagram posts from a conspiracy theorist who claims that “secret societies” are implanting vaccines in a plot to connect Black people to a master computer for “a plan of Satan.” This Moderna microchip misinformation campaign has spread across multiple NBA locker rooms and group chats, according to several of the dozen-plus current players, Hall-of-Famers, league executives, arena workers and virologists interviewed for this story over the past week.
Irving’s strange stance on the vaccine is a bizarre story, but it might not end the way you’d expect it to.
In a report by Yahoo! Sports’ Vincent Goodwill, there is some belief around the league that Irving will end up getting the shot, mostly due to the influence of Kevin Durant.
Irving couldn’t participate in the on-site media day festivities, and league sources believe Irving will wind up taking the vaccine, citing influence from his close friend and teammate Kevin Durant.
It’s no secret that Irving and Durant have become pretty close friends. In fact, they teamed up in Brooklyn as a result of their close friendship.
We don’t know for sure where Irving stands on the issue since he has (understandably) chosen to keep his stance on the topic private to the media.
But if he doesn’t get vaccinated, it could have real-world consequences on both him and his team.
