The Nets have are finally coming to terms with the very real likelihood Kyrie Irving is going to miss a number of regular-season home games as a vaccine holdout. And as the Oct. 24 home opener draws closer by the day, they admit they have no clue how many.
“I think we recognize he’s not playing home games,” said Steve Nash, adding Irving did not even travel with the team for Monday’s preseason tilt at Philadelphia. “We’re going to have to for sure play without him this year; so it just depends on when, where and how much.”
Sunday’s comments from the Nets were the most clear and transparent since the Irving drama began.
New York City mandates had barred Irving from playing or practicing at home due to his refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Last week’s ruling that HSS Training Center was a private office gave him a loophole, with Sunday his first home practice this preseason, and first at all since Oct. 2 in San Diego.
Kyrie IrvingCorey Sipkin/New York PostBut Barclays Center is still off-limits, as is the Garden for the Nets’ pair of games at the Knicks. That’s at least 43 games, unless he relents, or the mandates change.
“Right now we assume he’s not going to be available for home games,” Nash said. “Anything can change. Who’s to say, the city’s ordinance could change? Anything could change.”
“Right now we’re just trying to remain flexible, open-minded and figure it out as we go, because information is coming in by the half-day here, whether it’s Paul’s [Millsap health and safety protocol] situation, Kyrie’s situation or the laws. We found out Friday he could come in the building, so things are shifting. No one’s been through this before, and we’re just trying to figure it out as we go.”
Even if the mandates don’t change, there could be some leeway within them. Irving could apply for a religious exemption, although Golden State’s Andrew Wiggins was rejected for his before capitulating and taking the vaccine.
There is also a potential loophole as a “non-resident” player, intended to refer to non-vaccinated opposing players. But with Irving residing in New Jersey, could that fine print give Irving another way onto the court for home games?
“Yeah, I don’t know. Opposing players can come in here unvaccinated and play, so the rules change. I don’t know,” Nash said. “Right now the unfortunate truth is I can’t come in here and make any claims, because I really don’t know; so I’m just going to have to keep pushing you guys off.”
Nash also couldn’t say what kind of shape Irving is in after a week away, because the Nets didn’t do enough Sunday to judge his conditioning.
“I don’t know, because I haven’t seen him. [Sunday] he didn’t do enough to say we have a firm handle on where he is conditioning-wise. But it was a day in the bank that he got work in,” Nash said. “No, he’s not going to travel to Philly. We just keep navigating that. But it was great to have him back on the floor, we’ll keep building him up and see how things go.”
Because of his perhaps compromised conditioning, Nash held open the possibility of bringing the seven-time All-Star off the bench for a stretch.
“It’s possible, yeah. We’ll see. We haven’t really got there yet. We’re still trying to process all of the possibilities. That might take us some time to see where his body’s at. No one’s ever done that before,” said Nash. “I wouldn’t know what precedents there are, and what’s the best way to do it. We’re really trying to navigate it as we go.”
How this ends — or how it impacts cohesion along the way — nobody can accurately predict. Irving’s teammates just say whenever he can play, they need him.
“I don’t know to be honest; I really don’t,” Blake Griffin said. “It’s not something that I’ve experienced before. Whatever he decides, whatever the team decides, whatever agreement we come to or whatever happens, we’re just gonna support him. And when he’s here, we can use him. He’s amazing.”
