This past Tuesday, Eric Adams won New York City’s mayoral election and maintained a strong stance on NYC’s vaccination mandate, which would require Nets’ superstar, Kyrie Irving, to receive at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination to play in games located in NYC.
Many Nets fans were hopeful that they would see Irving return to the court after the election as Adams previously stated that he and his administration “needs to revisit how [they] are going to address the vaccine mandate.” This statement implied that Irving would be able to play for the Nets once again if the mandate was altered.
Unfortunately, when asked about the vaccine mandate and the Irving situation, Adams responded: “New York is not going to change their rules. It’s up to the NBA and Kyrie Irving to work something out.”
Following Mayor Adam’s statement and the Nets’ win against the Pistons on Friday night, Steve Nash was asked about his thoughts on the situation and stated that he did not expect the mandate to be changed. Coach Nash also said that “We just have to focus on our team. If we can have Kyrie back, we’ll all be ecstatic. We focus on our team, we keep building, we keep growing and hopefully we’ll be a good team by the end of the year.”
Despite the unlikelihood of Irving’s return anytime soon, we may see a special case that would allow the star PG to take the court this season. The NBA All-Star Game will take place this February, and all players, including Irving, are eligible to be voted in to play in the game. This situation poses an interesting question for when we will see Irving next and gives some of his fans hope of seeing him play this year, even if it is not for the Nets.
