NBA: Kyrie Irving could skip

games rather than get COVID

vaccine -- report
Field Level Media/Reuters
Posted at Sep 27 2021 09:04 AM

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Kyrie Irving #11 of the Brooklyn Nets looks on during Round 2, Game 4 of the 2021 NBA Playoffs on
June 13 2021 at the Fiserv Forum Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. File photo. Nathaniel S. Butler,
NBAE via Getty Images/AFP
Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving does not want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and his aunt
suggested to Rolling Stone that the NBA should reach some sort of compromise with anti-vaccine
players that would allow them to compete in a reduced number of games.

Rolling Stone's report Saturday on the anti-vax movement inside the NBA came on the heels of a
different report from Fox Sports, saying Irving had yet to receive his first COVID jab. 

The NBA is not mandating that players receive a vaccine, but New York City has a mandate in place
that would disallow athletes from practicing or playing in games inside city limits.

"There are so many other players outside of him who are opting out, I would like to think they would
make a way," Kyrie's aunt, Tyki Irving, told Rolling Stone. "It could be like every third game. So it
still gives you a full season of being interactive and being on the court, but with the limitations that
they're, of course, oppressing upon you.

"There can be some sort of formula where the NBA and the players can come to some sort of
agreement."

Roughly 50 to 60 NBA players have yet to receive the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, Rolling
Stone reported.

The report also noted that Irving follows an Instagram account whose owner spreads baseless
conspiracy theories that COVID vaccines are part of "Satan's ultimate plan to enslave the human
soul." He has liked some of the account's posts.

Irving also wields power in his role as a vice president on the executive committee of the players'
union.

The 2021-22 NBA regular season begins Oct. 19, when the Nets are scheduled to play the
Milwaukee Bucks on the road. Their home opener is Oct. 24 against Charlotte.

Irving is no stranger to missing games for personal reasons. He took an 11-day, seven-game leave of
absence from the Nets early in the 2020-21 season for what he deemed "family and personal stuff."

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