New York City’s vaccine mandate was in the spotlight this week when Kings veteran Justin Holiday, and unvaccinated player, took the floor at the Barclays Center while Kyrie Irving wasn’t allowed to attend due to his vaccination status.
It is a result of the mandate, which allows visiting athletes from outside the city to compete in indoor arenas, but not members of the team hosting the event, leaving Irving to sit out every home game so far this season.
Asked about the mandate on Wednesday, and if he has any intention of changing it to address that “oddity,” New York City mayor Eric Adams wouldn’t say definitively, but did acknowledge that the rule doesn’t make complete sense.
“First of all, I believe the rule is unfair,” Adams said. “We are saying to out-of-town athletes that they can come in and they don’t have to be vaccinated, yet New York athletes have to be vaccinated…I think it’s unfair.
“I’m not sure if a Boston fan created this rule,” Adams joked. “I don’t know. but I’m really, really weary about sending the wrong message. Having the City close down again keeps me up at night. The message we put in place, the rule was put in place. To change it now, I think it would send mixed messages.”
Based on those comments, it would appear that Adams doesn’t have any immediate plans to change the mandate, which means Irving will have to continue to wait to be cleared to play in home games, as he has consistently reinforced that he does not plan to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I’m struggling with this, to be honest with you,” Adams said.
As for Irving and the Nets, they can only continue to hold out hope that something will change by the time the playoffs roll around, or they will be forced to be without one of their best players for half of a postseason series.
“Obviously, we’re hopeful but it’s really out of our hands,” head coach Steve Nash said. “We just have to be patient and hope that the oddity of it prevails in a sense, but that’s not in my job description to write the city and state mandates. So I think we are hopeful and we’re patient and we’ll wait for hopefully the best outcome, but whatever outcome it is out of our hands.”
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