NEW YORK — In an extraordinary sign that Kyrie Irving may be fully available for the Nets later this year, two major figures, including the one with ultimate power, questioned New York City’s vaccine requirement for hometown pro athletes on Wednesday.
Irving is the only player on either the Knicks or Nets who has refused to take a COVID-19 vaccine, leaving him ineligible for home games, and road games at Madison Square Garden (where the Nets visit Wednesday night).
First up was NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who pointed out the bizarre fact that unvaccinated road players are eligible at Barclays and MSG. In fact, unvaccinated Kings guard Justin Holiday played in Brooklyn Monday night.
“The oddity of it to me is that it only applies to home players,” Silver said on ESPN. “It just doesn’t quite make sense to me that an away player who is unvaccinated can play in Barclays but a home player can’t.”
There is a proposed bill in the New York state senate closing the loophole for visiting athletes and musicians, which would surely assuage Silver’s concerns.
Then in an even more consequential move, Mayor Eric Adams signaled that he may be willing to loosen or alter the requirement because it so narrowly affects only Irving.
“I think the rule is unfair,” Adams said Wednesday. “We are saying to out-of-town athletes that they can come in and not be vaccinated, yet New York athletes, you have to be vaccinated ...
“I’m not sure if a Boston fan created this rule, I don’t know,” he joked.
The indoor vaccine requirement was put in place by former Mayor de Blasio, a Boston-area native.
Adams said he was weighing the negative public health consequences of giving Irving a high-profile exception.
“I’m really, really leery of sending the wrong message. ...To start changing it now, I think it would send mixed messages,” he said. “I’m struggling with this, just to be honest with you.”
Adams, the former Brooklyn borough president, had previously said he would not soften his predecessor’s various vaccine requirements, including the one covering Irving. His administration recently fired about 1,500 employees for refusing the shot.
Irving has never directly stated his reasons for refusing a vaccine but reporting has attributed it from everything from a desire for a plant-based vaccine to standing in supposed solidarity with unvaccinated people losing their jobs. His lack of availability for home games led the Nets to initially banish him before the start of the regular season, opting for continuity at home and on the road.
Then, as the omicron variant overwhelmed the NBA, the Nets sheepishly backpedaled on their stand, welcoming Irving back to the team in December as they were dealing with an outbreak that had leveled much of the roster.
Irving immediately caught the virus himself and his debut was delayed until Jan. 5 in Indianapolis. Since his return, Irving has appeared in 14 games. In February, head coach Steve Nash began riding Irving hard for the games he could actually play in, with the guard averaging over 37 minutes in the month and crossing the 40-minute mark twice in a week. He has mostly looked like his stellar old self, averaging 24 points on 45% shooting.
But his return coincided with a serious downturn for the Nets, who are 7-15 since welcoming him back and haven’t won a game with him in the lineup since Jan. 21. His erratic availability surely played a role in James Harden souring on the situation in Brooklyn and pouting his way to a trade to Philadelphia.
The Nets have 25 regular-season games left and Irving is currently eligible for just eight of them. The team’s 11 remaining road dates include two visits to the Knicks and one to the Toronto Raptors (Canada is not allowing unvaxxed athletes to enter the country).
Since returning, Irving has sparred with reporters who have asked him if the Nets’ dire need for his abilities has changed his mind about getting vaccinated. His answers were consistent: No, and hopefully he’ll be able to play in New York soon.
“The circumstances that are at hand, I’m praying that they get changed and we’re able to do things differently,” he said in January. Incredibly, he may have been right.
