The Nets are finally going to have Kyrie Irving for every possible game. He had already broken into Steve Nash’s rotation, even putting up 50- and 60-point performances, but only for the team’s road games. He was prohibited from playing at the Barclays Center (and also from going to the locker room, for which the franchise recently received a sanction) due to the New York mandate, where the pavilion is located, for the protagonists of the Knicks or Nets who formed part of these templates without having gone through the vaccination process against COVID-19 in which more than 90% of NBA players have gone. The duality was not only that he did not play at home and yes as a visitor, which is why the Nets separated him in the first part of the season considering that this would destabilize the course during the weeks, but also that any visiting player who presented a PCR Despite not being vaccinated, he would be suitable, something that Kyrie Irving did not value because it was not a valid option for him. All this is behind from now on.
Politician advances the decision Eric Adamsthe mayor of New York City: “Kyrie Irving and other unvaccinated athletes will be allowed to play professional sports in New York after a big change that the mayor is going to announce this Thursday”. The full reason is as follows: “The Mayor will announce his decision to reverse the mandatory vaccination mandate in the private sector for actors and athletes at local venues”. In addition to the Barclays Center, there are other examples such as Citi Field or Yankee Stadium.
Mayor Adams has positioned himself harshly in this Irving battle to return to the court, urging him to receive the various doses of the vaccine and pressing through the media despite the fact that Kyrie had announced that, for the moment, he was not within his plans to follow the recommendation of the health authorities. The now councilman has been in office for a short time, in which he replaced a Bill di Blasio who was forced to impose harsh restrictions in a New York that took several major blows with the spread of the pandemic. Although Adams has endured the pulse, the winner has ended up being Irving, who continues without a vaccine and will now be able to play all the games.
With 27.7 points per game, Irving is in this season at the best average of his sports career, but having played only 19 games (all outside of Brooklyn). The Nets have noticed both his absence and Durant’s small injuries, Harden’s departure or the obvious disorders of COVID infectionsstanding in the 8th place in the Eastern Conference (without playoffs until they pass play in) despite being one of the main favorites to win the NBA.
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The decision comes, moreover, it is a precise moment for the player. The NBA playoffs are coming up, and in the case of the Nets it will be an additional one or two for not reaching the top six in their conference, and for them Irving will be available both at home and away. It was even speculated that the Nets would avoid reaching the top seeding positions in order not to have the home court factor in their favor and have more opportunities as a visitor in rounds of seven games since Kyrie was only on the road. Now that theory is ruled out.
This rulemaking change that Adams has pushed for is also exactly timed. The start of the MLB season, and the uncertainty that was surrounding these days the unvaccinated Yankees and Mets, teams from the city that compete in that league, seeing Irving’s example have precipitated this new situation, accompanied due to an improvement in the containment data of the coronavirus pandemic.