The Brooklyn Nets have been operating as two different teams this season, one with Kyrie Irving, who has played 19 road games this season, and one without, as the star guard has refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine and has been ineligible to play home games (and was held out of the start of the season completely) due to the vaccine mandate for workers in the city.
Recently, New York City has been loosening some of the mandates, but had not yet indicated anything would change that would allow Kyrie to play anytime soon. However, further pressure from beyond the Nets has begun to mount with Major League Baseball getting ready to start its season and both the Mets and Yankees having some unvaccinated players on their squads. Given how big New York’s two MLB teams are and how much influence they wield, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that as Opening Day looms on the horizon, the city will apparently change its tune on the vaccine mandate.
According to numerous reports from Politico, ESPN, and The Athletic on Wednesday, mayor Eric Adams will announce a new exemption for in-town athletes and performers on Thursday.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams will level the playing field for in-town athletes and performers to match the rule that allows unvaccinated individuals to perform in NYC, sources familiar with the situation tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Now, NYC local athletes will have the same guidelines. https://t.co/Hsj5SRBclM
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 23, 2022
Kyrie Irving is eligible to make his home debut at Barclays Center on Sunday vs. the Charlotte Hornets, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. New NYC exemption for in-town athletes and performers will be effective immediately beginning Thursday.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 23, 2022
The line from Charania’s tweet about “leveling the playing field” feels like particularly pointed messaging direct from the city in terms of how they will explain the new exemption, as many have pointed out that visiting players and performers are not beholden to the same mandate as those who reside in New York. This comes just as the Nets are getting ready for a crucial stretch of schedule in which six of their last eight games are at home, starting Sunday against Charlotte (a team they’re battling with for the 8-seed in the East).
While Irving will apparently be exempt from Brooklyn’s mandate, should things stay as they are in the East standings with 10 games to go, he would still not be able to play in the first play-in game in Toronto, should the Raptors remain in seventh and Brooklyn in eighth.