Kyrie Irving was in attendance for Sunday’s Knicks-Nets game at Barclays Center, but he was unable to play.
Irving walked in to much fanfare and sat in courtside seats opposite the Nets’ bench. ESPN’s Malika Andrews reported Irving has season tickets to Nets games.
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The West Orange native and former St. Patrick High School star was also at Barclays Center Saturday night, watching Duke lose to Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament championship game.
In the ever-changing world of New York City COVID-19 vaccine mandates, Kyrie Irving is permitted to attend Nets games at Barclays Center but not to play in them. There is no mask mandate in New York City, so Irving was unmasked.
“Kyrie can only sit and watch,” ESPN’s Doris Burke announced during the game.
Many on social media and TV pointed to the inconsistency of the mandate that allows Irving to be in the building but not compete. Unvaccinated visiting players are also permitted to play at Barclays Center.
“Kyrie can easily fix this by getting vaccinated,” ESPN’s Jalen Rose said on air. “He can fix this, it will be interesting to see if it happens.”
Said Stephen A. Smith: “I’m only saying the mandate is wrong because if you’re allowed as a visitor to play at the Barclays Center, a guy on the home team should be allowed to play at Barclays Center. All or nothing for everybody.”
Of the Nets’ remaining 15 games entering Sunday, Irving is only eligible for four of them, and he also could miss the NBA Play-In Tournament. If the No. 8 Nets were to play the No. 7 Toronto Raptors, Irving currently isn’t permitted to play in Toronto or Brooklyn.
“I’m following just as much as you guys are, so just remaining patient and just seeing where things end up in the next week or so or two weeks,” Irving said last month. “I’m not too sure, but I know as much as you do. But I just want to say this: I’m very appreciative of all those that are pushing behind the scenes to make our world better, and with everything calming down with the COVID cases, the most important thing for me was making sure everybody was OK, and I’ve been on record saying this that it’s not about me.
“I don’t want to feel like it’s all me. But the circumstances this season have not been ideal. But I’m glad things are settling down and there’s light at the end of the tunnel here and hopefully I can get back on that home floor playing at the Barclays and we can finally have that conversation [the media has] been dying to have about turning the page and moving forward beyond this. But like I said I’m not the only one. I feel for everybody that’s in my boat or in a similar boat or dealt with some type of trauma from this. Just wishing everybody well wishes from this.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism