“Kyrie Irving is going to be the first part-time NBA player in 60 years”: How the Nets superstar is making history while returning against the Pacers tonight

Kyrie Irving is going to be the first player since Terry Dischinger in 1962 to be a part-time player for the league as he returns to tonight. 

The Kyrie Irving situation can get a bit confusing, especially with him making an unprecedented return to play tonight against the Indiana Pacers. It’s quite well known by now that Irving isn’t all too enthused about getting vaccinated against COVID-19 as he remains to be unvaccinated even to this day. 

The option to have him available for road games only has been present since the start of the 2921-22 NBA season. However, the Brooklyn Nets released a statement at the beginning of the season claiming that they wanted full commitment from their players.

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This led to the 2016 champ being excluded from their active roster; that is, until today. With Health and Safety Protocols having ravaged the league, with the Nets being no exclusion, bringing back a 50-40-90 All-Star seemed like the logical choice. 

NBA fans shouldn’t get used to seeing Kyrie Irving on the court unfortunately as he’s only available for away games where the state does not have a vaccination mandate in place. This rule effectively makes him a part-time player. 

Kyrie Irving is the league’s first part-time player since Terry Dischinger. 

Kyrie Irving is going to be making history with his return tonight against the Indiana Pacers. It would make him the first part-time NBA player since Terry Dischinger of the Chicago Zephyrs in 1962. The Zephyrs are a team that would go on to relocate to Washington DC to become the present day Wizards.

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Dischinger was a student at Purdue university from 1959-62 and his one condition for playing for the Zephyrs was that they allow him to complete his chemical engineering degree. So, this resulted in him studying on campus on the weekdays and joining his team for games on the weekends. 

The part-time worked out well for Terry as he actually won Rookie of the Year honors in 1963 after averaging 25.5 points and 8 rebounds a night. 

Fast-forward to today and Kyrie Irving will walk a mile in Dischinger’s shoes as he won’t be able to suit up for the Nets every game.