After issuing a press release on Tuesday announcing that Kyrie Irving won’t practice or play for the Nets until he can be a “full participant,” general manager Sean Marks spoke to reporters to provide more details on the team’s decision, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN and Alex Schiffer of The Athletic write.
“We looked at everything. When you make a decision like this, it’s one that you don’t want to do hastily,” Marks said, per Bontemps. “… I think we all know what our objective is this year and how this, a decision like this, may be able to (impact) that ultimate objective. They are never easy decisions, but at the end of the day, I think we are looking at putting a group of people that are going to be able to participate fully and that is what this comes down to. And we’re not looking for partners that are going to be half time.
“I don’t think that would be fair to not only the team and staff and ownership and fans, but to be quite frank, not fair on Kyrie either when you are putting somebody out there that potentially can’t get the right ramp-ups and right buildups and so forth and look as good as he or the team should under a different set of circumstances. That is why this decision was ultimately made.”
Asked if Nets stars James Harden and Kevin Durant had a say in the decision to sideline Irving, Marks said that “everyone” in the organization was kept in the loop about the situation, but stressed that he and team owner Joe Tsai made the final call.
“Ultimately, this decision was Joe Tsai and myself, and this decision came down to what we felt was the right move for the organization at this time,” Marks said.
Irving is the only player on the Nets who remains unvaccinated against COVID-19. A New York City executive order requires individuals who work in the city to have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine in order to enter indoor venues such as Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden.
The NBA has stated that players who are ineligible to play in games due to local vaccine mandates will lose 1/91.6th of their salary for each game they miss. While the NBPA has pushed back against the league’s interpretation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the expectation is that Irving’s stance will cost him $381K per game over the course of 43 games (41 in Brooklyn, plus two at MSG), for a total of nearly $16.4MM in lost salary.
Marks confirmed on Tuesday that Irving will only be docked salary for games in New York. As former Celtics and Suns executive Ryan McDonough explains (via Twitter), the decision to continue paying Irving for road games neutralizes Kyrie’s ability to involve the NBPA and file a grievance.
Here’s more on Irving:
- As of now, Irving has no plans to be vaccinated and there’s no indication New York City’s policy on unvaccinated individuals will change any time soon, writes Shams Charania of The Athletic. According to Charania, rival teams think Brooklyn would be open to a “significant” trade offer for Irving, but that kind of offer probably won’t be on the table, given that it’s unclear how willing Kyrie would be to join another team.
- Executives polled by Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports believe an Irving trade is possible, but only under “special circumstances,” since there are concerns he could retire if he’s dealt. “I don’t know if I’d touch him, but you have to look at it, for the sake of your team,” one exec told Goodwill.
- Head coach Steve Nash told reporters today that he supports the Nets’ decision on Irving, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Nash said he’d love to have Irving back with the team if the situation changes, but believes it would have been a “tenuous situation” to have a player with the team off and on.
- Harden said he respects Irving’s stance and would love to have him back in the lineup, but acknowledged that the Nets will benefit from knowing who will be available on a night-to-night basis (Twitter link via Begley).
What a dope.
How so?
How can some teams allow this kind of behavior coming from some of their players? It’s unprofessional, unethical, and disrespectful to fans as well. Kids are watching no matter excelling at parenting.
How can white owners allow their black players to behave like this? Is that really something you just asked out loud?
Well, besides the obviously unethical and racist undertones, people have freedom of choice
Players can refuse to take a vaccine they feel uncomfortable taking
Teams/league can suspend players for not taking it
If players, or anyone, are forced to take the vaccine as condition of employment it becomes a work related injury if anyone suffers complications (lawsuit)
Kyrie still gets paid 16+ mill for doing absolutely nothing (games hes eligible to play in) as do all players; they still get paid for eligible games whether they play or not due to suspension. Teams still have to pay them what theyre owed.
He makes $16 mil for doing nothing and you say this is racist?
As soon as race was brought up I checked out from the comment. I don’t need to read the rest.
Also one other point, the Nets majority owner is not white.
Owners of Magic (jonathan Isaac), Wizards (Bradley Beal), Warriors (Draymond Green) are white. Not just Kyrie speaking out about how they feel.
@Houston
(Hand raided) Black guy here. That’s a pretty ridiculous thing to suggest. This rule was NOT created by NBA owners. It’s a rule made by NYC mayor and extends to not only the Nets but the Liberty as well. suggesting it’s a racial thing is absurd. Im sure the last thing ownership wants is to willingly pay Kyrie half of his salary for zero performance of his contract. White players and employees are subject to the same rules broski.
I stopped reading after racial undertones… I’m an ally but you added the racial undertones. Not everyone looks at the world from a black and white perspective. Stop accusing others.. it speaks more about you than Julyn
So if Kyrie was white it wouldn’t be racist? You’re the one that pointed out that Kyrie is black. I’m shocked, didn’t know that, so thank you for that revelation.
Friend this player isn’t forced into anything. He’s free to choose his path. Vaccinated or non vaccinated. The consequences are also his choice.
Not exactly true in NYC, SF or LA. But only if you play for the home team, exceptions made for visiting players.
Because Kyrie is a star. It he wasn’t, he’d have been shown the door a long time ago. It’s just how it goes.
And at least he won’t be getting paid for home games missed. Plus, fans will have the opportunity to boo him until the end of time if and when he returns to the court.
I’d applaud him for standing up for his principles if I could figure what they are.
Does it really matter what Kyrie does now. All that matters is that he plays in April when it counts. I still don’t know why KD wanted to team up with this guy. Harden if your reading this come to MSG or Philadelphia
I applaud Irving for wanting to be a skeptic, we should always question popular opinions and never accept things blindly. But Kyrie tends to make other skeptics look foolish, he’s just not smart enough to be one himself.
Kyrie is an intelligent man. He also is well read. He also has given his wealth to help others. Athletes don’t need the Vac according to many doctors who know more than the idiot mayor NYC does.
What about people athletes come in contact with. Kyrie does NOT prioritize the abstract nor has much of an intellect, flat earther. He is cold and reflective, but that is a bad substitute.
Yes let’s be skeptical of public health and medical professionals who are specially trained and spend their entire work life studying and modeling how to minimize the negative impacts of diseases. Yes let’s be skeptical and “do our own research” because that is what skeptics do. Yes let’s be skeptical even if we have no effing idea what being skeptical means. Yes, let’s be skeptics.
Author’s note: I did my own research before posting this.
Maybe he stayed at a holiday inn
So lets just blindly follow what the “experts” tell us? You seriously think that’s better than asking questions?There is nothing so simple about the pandemic we are living through that there should be a follow the masses mentality, anyone, on either side who tells you they
“know” something should be discredited. Unfortunately we won’t really know the best course of action until its over.
So you you blindly follow what the cowardly say instead? That’s not thinking, it’s reacting.
A choice was made, staying ahead with vaccinations was chosen. Get with the program, sponge antivaxxer.
If you go to the doctor and she says you have a 95% blockage of an artery in your heart and need surgery, you run to facebook and find a meme that disparages doctors and then eat horse paste. That’s skepticism in the USA.
Friend this isn’t about a opinion. This is about facts.
Tsai will NOT give him the extension.
KI’s positions are reasonable enough to respect, on this “order” (not actually a law), vaccines generally and all the other things he seems to care about beyond the court.
What’s difficult to respect is a person signing an NBA contract with so many principles that he’s willing to prioritize over playing NBA basketball. What about the universal principle of fulfilling one’s commitments (even beyond the legalities of his contract, he’s made commitments to his team, the league, his teammates and even the fans). Did it ever cross his mind that in an imperfect world (which he unfortunately has to share with others) that it might just have to suck it up, and do something he finds objectionable to avoid a greater harm.
Agreed. A sliver of me respects Kyrie’s audacity if he truly stands firm in the face of 16m lost.
But the reality is standing this firm on not getting the shot, even if I agree with a lot of the reasoning of hesitancy, is more or less idiotic.
Same. I respect Wiggins less for being nearly just as dumb as Kyrie while not having the same commitment to his beliefs. Better for public health obviously, but at least Crazy Kyrie is walking the walk.
If you actually believe it is better for public health than respecting Kyrie more than wiggins makes NO Sense. DUMB DUMB DUMB
justkidding that was incoherent. Who are you to evaluate smart.
To add onto this, if Kyrie doesn’t want to fulfill his duties as a high-level contracted employee he should do the right thing and retire tomorrow. Instead, he seems to want to shirk those responsibilities while still enjoying all of the perks of being an NBA Player. Can’t have it both ways.
So wrong. New York City is enforcing its own policy, has nothing to do with his contract with the NBA, except the NBAPA agreed to reduce disqualified players salaries for home games. If he played for about 25 other teams it would be a non story and he would play in every game.
Did I read that if he plays zero games this season heestill gets 1/2 the salary?
Yes, doesn’t get paid for the home games he is ineligible for, gets paid for the games on the road that the Nets choose not to play him in.
Well to be sure, without Kyrie BRK ain’t favorites no more for the title this year, as simple as, so the owner & GM shoot themselves on the foot with a really puzzling decision, but… wait when they fail to win, which they will without him, then they will turn around & blame him for their own bad decision making, SMH!
#LetKyriePlay
Are the Sixers open to someone that is not vaccinated to play on their team?
I’ve read their front office is not interested. Also, it’s not clear that Ben Simmons is vaccinated either because the protocols he’s going through before reporting to practice indicate that he might not be. A trade could be beneficial on the court to both teams and match up contractually for both teams in AAV, especially if they both waive their 15% trade kickers. However, there is the possibility that Kyrie would retire if traded. He’s an incredible player but he’s put his team, his team’s fanbase, his teammate with a heart condition, and those who would follow his example in a bad position while we’re still trying to fight through a pandemic.
Honestly, if the rest of team and the staff do it, you gotta suck it up and just do it.
Unless, there is a special reason, like adverse reaction or something, then you should be able to be exempt.
And yes, I would take Irving for Simmons and try to work it out. It would solve everyone’s problems….. I think lol
I’d be less worried about that and more worried about how illogical, unpredictable, and moody Kyrie is. The talk of him possibly retiring early is legitimate IMO. He will always bring and carry baggage.
Hence why I would not give up Simmons for him. Simmons has his issues and is not as good as Kyrie, but he is far from the same risk and liability. And if we’re talking big long-term contracts, I’d easily side with Ben.
Kyrie should start his own religion ……. he’s clearly on a different plane of existence compared to us mere mortals.
So wrong. New York City is enforcing its own policy, has nothing to do with his contract with the NBA, except the NBAPA agreed to reduce disqualified players salaries for home games. If he played for about 25 other teams it would be a non story and he would play in every game.
So you will blame it on NY for trying.
Without vaccines we would still have polio, measles, chicken pox etc. Without the vaccine Covid will stay around forever and continue to mutate. 99% of the people that are dying of covid are unvaccinated. Hospitals don’t even have open beds because they are all being takin up by covid patients. If you go to a local hospital and talk to the nurses and doctors they will tell you about all the people dying. They’ll tell you how anti-vaccine people are on death beds asking for the shot, not knowing how the vaccine actually works. Which brings me to my point, it might be your choice whether or not you get the vaccine, but it’s a pretty selfish choice if you don’t.