Kyrie Irving is well within his rights to not get the vaccine, and I do think some of the ways sports media speak about him are over the top and unwarranted.
With that being said, Kyrie Irving is no martyr for not taking a vaccine. The only thing he sacrificed was half his money and the Nets’ chances of winning a title.
Unless he wants to be seen as a puppet for anti-vaccination propaganda, this was just one person making a decision for himself that he knew would affect others negatively.
Here is what Kyrie had to say during an appearance on the ETCS.
“I was not expecting a mandate to be brought down in a way where it wasn’t going to let me play at all,” Irving told the Boardroom’s “ETC Podcast” in an episode published Wednesday. “I had the opportunity to play away games still but there was no plan in place, there was no vision of how it was going to work for our team. And I think that not only impacted not just me, but a lot of people. Just had to sit in that hot seat for a little bit and deal with it. The life of a martyr, bro.”
“[The mandate] completely caught me off guard. I didn’t expect to come into the season with all this put on my plate,” Irving said. “It was an ultimatum given to me, it’s either you work and get vaccinated just like this ultimatum was given to other people, or you sit at home and now we get to talk s–t about your decisions and me personally and make all these judgments and stuff.
“I had to deal with both ends of the spectrum. I sat right in the middle. I knew I was doing the right thing for me. And I had to stay rooted int that decision. And I’m grateful I had a great support system to get me through it because it wasn’t easy.”
Kyrie wants to stay with NETS, but the NETS might be looking to cut ties as early as next season.
Flip the pages for the full Kyrie Irving interview.
