Kyrie Irving and his tenure with the Brooklyn Nets has been a weird one. When Kevin Durant and Irving joined forces in Brooklyn, everyone thought that the Nets had found themselves a Championship roster. While that might be the case on paper, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Report: Kevin Durant will join Kyrie Irving and sign with the Brooklyn Netshttps://t.co/QQPFActAdB pic.twitter.com/QV4HKPk5wI
— NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSBoston) June 30, 2019
Over the last 3 seasons, Durant and Kyrie have only played 44 games together. In those 44 games that they have played together, they have shown glimpses of what the Nets could achieve. Let’s have a look at how Kyrie’s stand on the Covid vaccine ultimately prevented them from reaching their goals.
The Nets’ underwhelming performance could be attributed to Kyrie Irving’s stand on the Covid Vaccine
Back when Durant joined Brooklyn he was still recovering from an ACL injury so their first season together was already set to end in disappointment. Then during the 2019-20 season, Kyrie went down with a shoulder injury and only ended up playing 20 games. After their first season ended with the Nets missing the playoffs they were already on the board making plans for the next one.
But, something happened that the Brooklyn Nets couldn’t possibly have planned for. Covid-19 came along and shut down the entire league. There were no more than an average of 892 fans in attendance across the league. The players were still playing but they had to follow Covid restrictions. Things were still somewhat manageable till the vaccine came out.
Kyrie Irving’s impact during COVID-19 was his press release. pic.twitter.com/xkfEW6IsFu
— 👑 Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson (@ScoopB) December 4, 2020
Now, after the vaccines rolled out, the players had to get vaccinated, well they didn’t have to but there were some strict policies against unvaccinated players.
So getting the vaccine was the right thing to do for most people. Kyrie, however, refused to get vaccinated. This prevented him from participating in games at the Barclays Center. So as a result of that Kyrie almost missed all 41 home games for the Nets. This meant that Kyrie had little to no impact on the Nets’ season.
The team was in shambles without their other star on the floor and the vaccine mandate was finally lifted. This allowed Kyrie to participate in home games starting from March 2022. The Nets however failed to do any damage in the Playoffs as they were eliminated within the first round.
I’m go ahead and say it right now, if the city of New York doesn’t come out with any Covid restrictions and gives Kyrie & KD a full season to play with each other.. I’m say the Brooklyn Nets will come out the east next year.. don’t @ me. #KyrieIrving #Netsworld
— CEAZ (@ceazdakid) June 27, 2022
If it wasn’t for Covid this team might have achieved some great things together. But, they still have some time left so who knows what’s going to happen next season.
Kyrie Irving and his Off Season Shenanigans
There is drama to be had every time Kyrie is at the end of his contract during the offseason. For a long time now reports had been circulating that Kyrie wants out of Brooklyn. Some even suggested that he will decline his $36M player option and sign with LeBron and the Lakers for $6M. However, after a whole circus of rumors, Kyrie ended up accepting his player option and told the fans that he was staying.
Losing Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and James Harden within 8 months should be a criminal offense
— Cody Mallory (@RealCodyMallory) June 27, 2022
If Kyrie had decided to leave, Kevin Durant wouldn’t have stayed much longer. If things went wrong the Nets would have lost James Harden, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving within the span of 8 months
You wouldn’t be crazy to believe in the rumors though, even if they suggest that Kyrie was going to take a $30M pay cut to play with LeBron and the Lakers.
When Kyrie decided to sit out because of the vaccine mandate he lost around $380,000 for every game he missed. That means Kyrie’s pay was cut by almost 90% for every game he missed because of the vaccine mandate.
Kyrie’s off-court antics may get on the nerves of some people, but no one can deny that he can do great things on the court. If nothing goes wrong for the Nets next season, then their star duo of Kyrie and Durant might finally get to show the fans what they’re capable of.