The Brooklyn Nets are now playing hardball with Kyrie Irving in response to his decision not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
On Tuesday, Nets General Manager Sean Marks announced Kyrie is ineligible to play or practice with the team until he complies with New York City vaccination rules.
Given the evolving nature of the situation and after through deliberation, we have decided Kyrie Irving will not play or practice with the team until he is eligible to be a full participant.
Kyrie has made a personal choice, and we respect his individual right to choose.
Currently the choice restricts his ability to be a full-time member of the team, and we will not permit any member of our team to participate with part-time availability.
It is imperative that we continue to build chemistry as a team and remain true to our long-established values of togetherness and sacrifice.
Our championship goals for the season have not changed, and to achieve these goals each member of our organization must pull in the same direction. We are excited for the start of the season and look forward to a successful campaign that will make the borough of Brooklyn proud.
Here’s more insight via ESPN:
The vaccine mandate, which went into effect last month, states that anyone entering an indoor gym — including Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden, the homes of the Nets and New York Knicks — must have had at least one COVID-19 shot.
As a result, Irving was unable to play in 43 regular-season games — 41 at Barclays Center, plus two at MSG — and another two preseason games in Brooklyn. Marks confirmed Irving would only lose money for those games, roughly $380,000 per game.
Of course, people have taken to Twitter to react to the latest move by the Brooklyn Nets in an effort to force Kyrie to get vaccinated.
Peep a few tweets below.
What are your thoughts on Kyrie Irving and his decision not to get vaccinated?
