No vaccine, no group competitive activity. New and exciting episode of the telenovela Kyrie Irving, the NBA All Star who does not want to get vaccinated even at the cost of losing 17 million dollars a season: the Brooklyn Nets have thrown him out of the team a week after the start of the championship. “Given the evolution of the situation and after having reasoned and deliberated on it, we have decided that Kyrie Irving will not play and will not train with the team until he is able to fully take part in it”, the words of GM Sean Marks . To re-enter the group will need the vaccine, always rejected and publicly opposed by Irving. “Kyrie made a personal choice and we respect the individual right to make such a decision. But at the moment this choice of his restricts his possibility of being part of the group full-time and we will not allow any of the team members to be part-time only “, the gloss of the statement of the Nets which establishes a break with the former star of Cleveland and Boston. And most likely, with the NBA market still open and in case of absolute denial of vaccination, even in Brooklyn in a time not too distant.
The Nets, like their New York Knicks cousins, are subject to more stringent health rules than most other franchises: the New York authorities, but also those of San Francisco for the Golden State Warriors, have banned access to the arenas Nba to the unvaccinated, both among spectators and players. Almost mandatory vaccine for everyone, but not for the convinced no-vax Irving. So certain to continue his battle that he is not frightened by the risk of losing almost $ 17 million, or the sum of the $ 380,000 fine (1/92 per game) for each of the 43 non-playable unvaccinated matches, throughout the season. And that, in recent days, he had also received permission to train with the rest of the team in the gym “as a private place and not a public one”. The latest move by the Nets, however, puts Kyrie Irving back to the wall: no vaccine, no work on the NBA floors.