Justin Holiday, a new trade acquisition for the Sacramento Kings, played 32 minutes in a loss to the Nets at the Barclays Center on Monday night, while Kyrie Irving sat out due to his vaccination status.
Holiday, also unvaccinated, was able to play in New York City as a visiting player, while Irving is unable to play in Brooklyn’s home games and in Wednesday night’s matchup with the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. NBA commissioner Adam Silver doesn’t understand the logic of that mandate.
“This law in New York, the oddity of it to me is that it only applies to home players,” Silver told ESPN Wednesday morning. “If ultimately, that rule is about protecting people in the arena, it just doesn't quite make sense to me that an away player who is unvaccinated can play in Barclays but the home player can't.
“To me, that’s a reason they should take a look at that ordinance.”
Irving hasn’t played a game in New York since last season, and has repeatedly said that he has no intention of changing his stance and receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. That would mean his only hope of becoming a full-time player, and in turn available for an entire playoff series, would be if mayor Eric Adams alters the mandate, which currently requires proof of vaccination to be in indoor arenas, restaurants, etc. But that doesn’t apply to visiting players like Holiday, which Silver clearly doesn’t believe makes much sense.
But he is hopeful that will change, which would of course be a massive boost to Brooklyn’s title hopes.
“Many of the masking restrictions are being lifted,” Silver said. “You can just feel it in the City. There are more people in restaurants, more people out and about. My personal view is people should get vaccinated and boosted, but I can imagine a scenario where Brooklyn, as part of New York City, with a new mayor now...I can see him deciding to change along the way and say that it’s no longer necessary to have a mandatory vaccination requirement, as I said, particularly one that only affects home players.”
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