The Brooklyn Nets were put into a bind as the 2021-22 regular season looms — would they allow star point guard Kyrie Irving to play before he got the COVID-19 vaccine, meaning he might miss home games, contests in New York and California and home practices due to local regulations?
Irving would stand to lose an astronomical amount of money, and — for a lot of games, including playoff contests — the Nets would be missing a key part of their Big 3 with Kevin Durant and James Harden, a trio of All-Stars who were meant to make Brooklyn a favorite to win an NBA title.
But Brooklyn didn’t go halfheartedly with its decision that was announced on Tuesday. It did exactly the right thing for the team and the franchise: The Nets announced Irving wouldn’t play or practice until he was vaccinated.
Full statement from Brooklyn on Kyrie Irving pic.twitter.com/SyIQPNZo7d
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) October 12, 2021
“Given the evolving nature of the situation and after thorough deliberation, we have decided Kyrie Irving will not play or practice with the team until he is eligible to be a full participant. Kyrie has made a personal choice, and we respect his individual right to choose. Currently the choice restricts his ability to be a full-time member of the team, and we will not permit any member of our team to participate with part-time availability. It is imperative that we continue to build chemistry as a team and remain true to our long-established values of togetherness and sacrifice. Our championship goals for the season have not changed, and to achieve these goals each member of our organization must pull in the same direction. We are excited for the start of the season and look forward to a successful campaign that will make the borough of Brooklyn proud.”
The statement from general manager Sean Marks covered it all — Irving made his choice, and while he was careful to say the team would respect that choice, part-time wasn’t enough.
This sentence, in particular, stuck out:
“It is imperative that we continue to build chemistry as a team and remain true to our long-established values of togetherness and sacrifice.”
That’s clearly a message to Irving. The ball is in his court now — either he can stay home and not remain true to “values of togetherness and sacrifice” with his teammates as they focus on a title run, or he can get vaccinated.
It’s also a move that put the entire team’s safety first, delivering the right message to the rest of the roster, one that’s implying that no one player — star or not — is above another.
That was the only move the Nets could make if Irving put his foot down and refused to be vaccinated. We’ll see if he changes his mind a week from Tuesday when he’ll either join the team on opening night to face the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks … or sit at home and watch them play.
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