Kyrie Irving may have finally made his Barclays Center season debut Sunday, but playing a home game is still going to have to wait.
New York City’s indoor vaccine mandates may have loosened enough to allow the unvaccinated Irving in the building, but the private-sector mandates still keep him from suiting up. Eligible for just four more road games this season, he was reduced to a spectator watching his teammates beat the Knicks 110-107.
The fact it came just a couple hours after Mayor Eric Adams urged Irving to get vaccinated just made the whole scene Kafka-esque.
“Yeah, I don’t get it,” Kevin Durant said. “But at this point now, it feels like somebody’s trying to make a statement or a point to flex their authority. But everybody out here is looking for attention, and that’s what I feel the mayor wants right now is some attention. He’ll figure it out soon. He better.
“But it just didn’t make any sense. It’s unvaxxed people in this building already. We’ve got a guy who can come into the building, I guess are they fearing our safety? I don’t get it. We’re all confused. Everybody in the world is confused at this point. Earlier on in the season, people didn’t understand what’s going on, but now it just looks stupid. So hopefully, Eric, you’ve gotta figure this out.”
It was a blunt comment from the usually apolitical Durant. And it came after a surreal scene, with Irving making a fashionably late arrival Sunday and sitting in his courtside seats. He came through the visitor’s tunnel clad in a long off-white peacoat with black lettering.
With cameras following, Irving made his way through the crowd, stopping to shake hands, give hugs and dap up Nets fans as the crowd roared its approval.
He eventually made his way courtside, talking with team owner Joe Tsai. Then Irving took his seat and watched the rest of the first half before heading into the locker room at intermission with his teammates.
“I was at the free-throw line when he walked in. Me and [Andre] Drummond looked at each other and were like ‘Yo, this is unreal. I’ve never seen anything like this before.’ We just smiled,” Durant said. “I mean, we can say that about a lot of situations over these last few years where things didn’t make any sense, especially with COVID being involved.
“Hopefully it gets figured out. Eric, you gotta figure out something man, because it’s looking crazy, especially on national TV. And he can come to the game but can’t play? Come on. Hey, yo Eric.”
Of course, His Honor had his say earlier. Adams was on the Brownsville/BedStuy border breaking ground on a playground when a fan heckled him regarding Irving not being able to play at home. Adams offered a simple solution.
“Listen, you’re right. Kyrie can play tomorrow: Get vaccinated,” Adams said with a thumbs-up.
A City Hall source told The Post that the private sector employee mandate applies to almost every private businesses in the city, and while it does have the same non-resident athlete exception as Key2NYC (the indoor venue mandate that ended March 7), that only applies to athletes playing for visiting teams, not local squads.
So despite Irving living in West Orange, N.J., he’s still subject to it since he’s employed by a local team. Hence, he can enter Barclays not as a player but a fan.
“That was crazy. I heard some noise going on and I turn around and I see Ky’. But I just don’t understand the ruling on him being in the arena and not being able to play. It makes no sense to me,” Bruce Brown said. “But it’s good to see him back in Barclays.”
