There is renewed optimism that star point guard Kyrie Irving could return to play for the Brooklyn Nets this season after all, The Athletic reported Monday.
It’s unclear which side harbors the optimism. It’s also unclear whether Irving’s would-be return signifies a willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or the team relaxing its stance to allow Irving to play road games, per the report. Irving, 29, is sitting out because of New York City’s mandate requiring at least one shot of the COVID vaccine to be able to enter certain buildings — including entertainment venues such as the Nets’ home arena, Barclays Center.
Further, the team decided Oct. 12 that it wouldn’t allow Irving to be a part-time player.
“He’s an elite player. We all know that. If he gets vaccinated, we’ll welcome him back on the team, but if he’s not vaccinated, we’ve made a decision that it would be too disruptive for him to come in and out of games, play only away games. So that was never going to fly. It’s that simple,” Nets owner Joe Tsai said in an interview in late October.
Irving, a seven-time All-Star, played in 54 regular-season games for the Nets last season and averaged 26.9 points, 6.0 assists and 4.8 rebounds.
In 582 career games (all starts) with the Cleveland Cavaliers (2011-17), Boston Celtics (2017-19) and Nets, he has averages of 22.8 points, 5.7 assists and 3.8 rebounds.
–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)
The San Francisco Giants will look to further close the gap in their all-time rivalry with the visiting Oakland Athletics when they seek a second straight win Wednesday night in…
The Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Angels will play the third game of their four-game series Wednesday night in Anaheim, Calif., as the Guardians try to rediscover their offense. Cleveland’s…
The Los Angeles Kings are playoff-bound for the first time since the 2017-18 season. The Kings (43-27-10, 96 points) punched their postseason ticket Tuesday night when Dallas defeated Vegas in…
Guardians, slumping Franmil Reyes take on Shohei Ohtani’s Angels
Playoff-bound Kings seek to keep Kraken reeling
Six-man rotation kicks in as Astros, Cristian Javier face Rangers
Jason Robertson, Stars can lock up playoff berth vs. Coyotes