Kyrie Irving is still ineligible to play in any Nets home games due to NYC’s vaccine mandate, but it seems as if the city is moving closer every day to ending that mandate and making Irving able to play at Barclays Center.
That’s a testament to new NYC Mayor Eric Adams, whom Irving praised heavily in his postgame presser following the Nets’ loss to the Celtics in Boston on Sunday.
“Shout out to Eric Adams, man. It’s not an easy job to be the mayor of New York City and with COVID looming, vaccination mandates, everything going on in our world with this war, Ukraine and everybody feeling it across America, I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right now trying to delegate whether or not one basketball player can come and play at home,” Irving said about the new mayor. “I appreciate his comments and his stance.”
The comments Irving was referring to came last week, when Adams announced that the mandates preventing unvaccinated people from entering indoor facilities would be lifted on March 7, but while he “can’t wait” to phase out more mandates, the one about private employers standing means that Irving still can’t play.
Mayor Adams, who is a childhood friend of Nets owner Joe Tsai, noted that he wanted to see Irving on the court – even saying it makes “no sense” that other teams’ unvaccinated players can play in NYC but Kyrie can’t – but making an exception for Irving would “send the wrong message.”
“I want Kyrie on the court. I would do anything to get that ring. So badly I want it. But there's so much at stake here. We want to find a way to get Kyrie on the court, but this is a big issue. I can't have my city close down again. I have to follow the rules. It would send a wrong message just to have an exception for one player when we're telling a countless number of New York City employees if you don't follow the rules, you won't be able to be employed," Adams said last week.
Kyrie is hopeful of the same, and also shouted out those who have been affected by COVID mandates and protocols over the last two years.
“I know one day we’ll be able to break bread together and (Adams) will be able to come to the games and hopefully we’ll be past this time like it never happened in our sense, but it’s just the reality that it’s been difficult for a lot of us in New York City and across the world,” he said. “I know he’s feeling it and I’m just grateful that he’s on my side as well as the Commissioner.”
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