Kyrie Irving Ineligible To Play For Next 2 Weeks, Says 'I Don't Feel Guilt ...

Kyrie Irving played brilliantly in the latest Brooklyn Nets’ loss -- their 11th straight -- but now will be ineligible to play for the next two weeks due to his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Yet the West Orange native and former St. Patrick High School star said he doesn’t feel any guilt over his inability to join his teammates until their Feb. 26 game at the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks. Of the Nets’ remaining 26 games, Irving is only eligible for eight, including a March 10 date with James Harden and the 76ers. Of Brooklyn’s next eight games, Irving is eligible for one of them. Due to injuries and other absences during the losing streak, the Nets (29-27) have fallen from first to eighth in the Eastern Conference.

“Please respect my boundaries, man. That’s all I’m asking, bro,” Irving said in response to ESPN’s Nick Friedell after scoring 20 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter of the Nets’ 115-111 loss at Miami. “There’s no guilt that I feel. I’m the only player that has to deal with this in New York City because I play there. If I was anywhere else, it probably wouldn’t be the same circumstances.

“But because I’m there, we have [Mayor] Eric Adams, we have the New York mandate, we have things going on that are real-life circumstances that are not just affecting me bro. So if you’re asking me these questions, I don’t feel guilt. I’m just living my life like everybody else that missed these last two years.”

Irving said “the NBA and NBPA made it very clear that there would be things that I would be able to do to work around this and that’s off the table. So you tell me if I’m just alone out here or if I have support from everybody else that’s dealing with the same thing.”

Kyrie Irving says he doesn't feel guilty about only being available for road games:"I'm the only player that has to deal with this in New York City because I play there. If I was anywhere else in another city, then it probably wouldn't be the same circumstances." pic.twitter.com/111vlwnvnm

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) February 13, 2022

Irving is right that if he played in most any other city, he would be eligible to play in home games. As it stands now, he can only play in road games even though New York City has lifted its mask mandate. Of course, Andrew Wiggins of the Warriors initially refused to get vaccinated, too, but then did and will now be a starter in the All-Star Game Feb. 20 in Cleveland.

“I still wish I could be out there at home,” Irving said. “Some people say it’s as simple as go get this this, go get the shot. It’s not as simple as that…..I’m still praying for a better outcome.”

Nets GM Sean Marks said Friday Irving remains “frustrated” by the New York City vaccine mandate and that the team is hopeful conditions change and that Irving is allowed to play in home games by the NBA playoffs.

“I think the most frustrated person in this whole thing is Kyrie,” Marks said Friday following the blockbuster Harden-for-Ben Simmons trade on Thursday.

“Kyrie is frustrated with the fact that he’s not able to be out there. All the conversations have been, ‘Look, I want to be there, I want to be around the team.’ He’s obviously hoping for things to look different in the future here, and for him to be able to participate in home and road games.”

Harden was reportedly frustrated with Irving’s part-time status leading up to the trade, and Irving said his status “maybe could’ve impacted things with Harden.”

But Marks said Harden never said that directly to the Nets.

“I don’t want to speak for James on that, that was never explicitly expressed by him,” he said.

Durant told reporters in Miami that Irving is an “easy scapegoat” for the media to blame things on.

“Kyrie has always been an easy scapegoat for everybody, especially for the media and the fans, they love to use him as a scapegoat for a lot of problems,” he said. “So it’s easy to blame him, but I can’t speculate on how James is feeling. I know a lot of the media will put that on him.”

Durant said he was uncertain how much Irving’s part-time status has impacted the Nets.

“That’s hard to gauge,” Durant said. “I haven’t really spoken to everybody about that. But as far as the basketball that’s being played on the floor, we’re all professionals and we understand what’s it like not having a guy in the lineup, so our jobs and what we do and how we operate as individuals, regardless of who’s on the floor, can’t change. So we all approach our jobs the same, but I’m sure some people wish it were different.

“But everybody’s spirit, when Kyrie wasn’t here and then when he was here ... there hasn’t been any change in the atmosphere or the mood or the culture. Everything’s been sweet.”

Irving has remained hopeful and optimistic that conditions will change, allowing him to play in home games, and often speaks to the situation in the passive voice, as if others are controlling his fate when he himself could end the whole situation by getting vaccinated. He said the injury to Kevin Durant had nothing to do with his vaccination status and was offended that a reporter asked if the injury would alter his decision.

“The decision on the [vaccine] mandate, that’s obviously far above my pay grade and not something I’m overly concerned about now,” Marks said.

“I think we’re always going to be optimistic. I just look around the world and I see things are changing, whether it’s the mask mandates in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and then you’ve got entire countries that are changing their outlook on Omicron and Covid and so forth.

“My hope would be that by the time we roll around the playoffs, if not sooner, the world looks like a different place. And the more people that are vaccinated and so forth and we’re moving on. Economies have to keep moving, let alone NBA franchises.”

Asked by Brian Lewis of the New York Post if it gets harder or easier to miss time now that he’s been a part-time player for a couple of months, Irving said:

“This hasn’t been easy for anybody, and I think the more that you guys keep hammering it. Also in public spaces, I’m noticing that people like to make jokes about what’s going on and in ‘Half game, half man,’ whatever it is, my family has to see some of that stuff, my teammates have to see some of that and the outside noise creeps in at times.

“But it doesn’t impact me because I’m used to this. I don’t play these media games, I don’t do this. This is part of my job but this is not what I signed up for in order to be going back and forth answering questions about my personal emotions with all of this.

“All I’m doing is trying to be the best teammate, do my job at a high level. I wish that circumstances were different, but obviously it’s impacting a lot of people and I didn’t want this to happen but it is the reality,

“So now we move forward and we figure things out and we go from there. It’s as simple as that.”

"In public spaces, I'm noticing that people like to make jokes about what's going on. like 'half game' or 'half man'... The outside noise creeps in at times, but it doesn't impact me because I'm used to this."- Kyrie Irving pic.twitter.com/NEuyFct2IS

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) February 13, 2022

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.