MY ACCOUNT
Kyrie Irving is holding out hope that New York City’s vaccination mandate will eventually get overturned, enabling him to play home games for the struggling Brooklyn Nets.
Irving scored 29 points, including 20 in the final quarter, as the Nets suffered their 11th straight defeat on Saturday, going down 115-111 to the Miami Heat.
The point guard will be unavailable for the Nets’ next three games, as they are all at home at the Barclays Center where he cannot play due to his vaccination status.
“I still wish I could be out there at home,” Irving told reporters after the game.
“Some people say it’s as simple as, ‘hey, go get this, go get the shot.’ No, it’s not as simple as that for me in my life, but ultimately still praying for a better outcome.”
The defeat means the Nets slip perilously close to going below .500 with a 29-27 record.
Brooklyn also traded out James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers this week, while star forward Kevin Durant is still out injured. The Harden trade did mean the Nets landed Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond.
Irving said he felt no guilt for being unable to play home games as the Nets continued to slide.
“There’s no guilt that I feel,” Irving said. “I’m the only player that has to deal with this in New York City because I play there.
“If I was anywhere else in another city then it probably wouldn’t be the same circumstances. But because I’m there, we have [mayor] Eric Adams, we have the New York mandate, we have things going on that are real-life circumstances that are not just affecting me. So you ask me these questions, I don’t feel guilt.
“I’m just living my life as best I can just like everybody else that missed these last two years. I didn’t have a plan in place while all this was going on, didn’t know.
“The NBA and the NBPA made it very clear that there would be things that I would be able to do to work around this. And that’s off the table. So you tell me if I’m just alone out here or do I have support from everybody else that’s dealing with the same thing?”
