“COVID vaccine mandate isn’t changing, basketball has to wait”: Mayor, Eric Adams, continues to inadvertently sideline Kyrie Irving for Nets home games

Eric Adams states clearly that the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers won’t change, resulting in Kyrie Irving not being able to play. 

Kyrie Irving has somehow not been the biggest story for the Brooklyn Nets this 2021-22 NBA season due to James Harden requesting a trade away from the team out of nowhere. However, that doesn’t change the fact that he remains to be the biggest hinderance for the Nets due to his incapability to play at home games. 

Irving’s refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has resulted in him not being able to play in home games in New York, leading to Kevin Durant shouldering a majority of the offensive load. With Ben Simmons being sidelined due to a herniated disc, KD’s job seems to get more difficult as the season goes on.

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Two things can happen for the Nets to rejoice: either Kyrie Irving can get vaccinated against COVID or New York City raises its private employer mandate that requires private institutions to have every one of their employees vaccinated. 

The former of those doesn’t seem to be happening unless perhaps a plant-based vaccine is rolled out. So, the second option is the Nets’ only option to have their second best player back full-time. 

Kyrie Irving won’t be allowed to play home games in the near future. 

Nick Friedell was told recently by NYC Mayor, Eric Adams, that he has no plans in the near future to change the current rules regarding the private employer mandate in the city.

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“Right now, we’re going to take some complaints. But, when this is all said and done, people are going to realize this is a thoughtful administration and we got it right. So baseball, basketball, businesses, all of those things, they have to wait until that layer comes.” 

The mandate essentially prohibits an employee from showing up to work vaccinated. So while Kyrie Irvin can’t play in home games, he can attend home games with no one objecting. Kevin Durant and quite literally the entirety of the NBA world see the clear-as-day idiocy here and yet, the mandate still stands. 

The Brooklyn Nets are now facing a dilemma. Do they try to win games as much as they can to try and get the 6th seed and avoid the play-in/ or do they strategically fall to the 10th seed so as to play the play-in games on the road to have Kyrie Irving back?