Kyrie Irving cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Tuesday, and was back talking with reporters on Wednesday for the first time since the Nets Media Day before the season started.
At that time, Irving was talking to the media on a Zoom call, away from the team as it practiced in New York, where Irving is currently not able to practice or play in indoor facilities due to his vaccination status. But now, with Brooklyn bringing Irving back in a part time role for road games outside of New York and Toronto, the superstar point guard is trying to get ready for his first action since being injured in last year’s playoffs.
“Last night I could barely sleep,” Irving said. “I'm like, ‘Man, I just don't want to come out and not be who I know I am as a player’...heart racing and just not being nervous and touching the basketball again, and just the rhythm of the game. I missed it.”
Head coach Steve Nash and teammates raved about Irving’s play in practice, considering how long it has been since he’s been with the team. It looked like Irving may not play for Brooklyn at all this season, as the Nets had said they would only bring him back in a full time role, meaning he would have to be vaccinated. But once Brooklyn was decimated by the latest COVID-19 surge, which led to as many as 10 players in health and safety protocols at once, they changed course.
So, Irving will now ramp up his conditioning and wait for his season debut, which for awhile seemed like would never arrive.
“I knew the consequences,” Irving said. “I wasn’t prepared for them by any stretch of the imagination.”
Irving said he “understood” the team’s stance on keeping him away from the team, even on road games, as the Nets adhered to the City’s mandate that individuals must be fully vaccinated to enter indoor arenas.
“I understood their decision and I respected it,” Irving said. “I really had to sit back and try not to become too emotionally attached to what they were deciding to do. I had to sit down and really evaluate things and see it from their perspective.”
As for when exactly Irving will make his debut, the first possible date would be in about a week on Jan. 5, when the Nets visit the Pacers. It is certainly not a date that Irving would dismiss as a possibility. And neither will Nash, but that is far from a certainty at this point.
“I don’t think it’s smart to rush him into games,” Nash said. “There’s only 50 games left. It’s when he’s ready. If he’s ready for Indiana, great. If he’s not, we push it to the next one.”
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