Kyrie Irving Standing Firm On Vaccine Despite Durant Injury

The Nets seem cursed to never be able to give Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden a run together.

Prior to last season, Brooklyn suddenly propelled itself to championship contention with the signing of James Harden. Durant, Irving and Harden is a Big 3 capable of destroying any team.

However, a combination of injuries and Covid-19 complications have seen the trio’s time together on the court limited.

Kevin Durant is now injured for the next four to six weeks. In spite of this, Kyrie Irving does not intend to get vaccinated, and will continue to play in road games only.

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“That’s what I think comes into a lot of this culture and basketball and sport and entertainment,” Kyrie Irving said. “You bring in teams and you bring in situations. Kev’s going to heal, Kev’s going to be OK, and we’re going to have to deal with that as his teammates. But in terms of where I am with my life outside of this, I stay rooted in my decision. And that’s just what it is.

“It’s not going to be swayed just because of one thing in this NBA life. That somehow it’s brought to my attention as being more important than what’s going on in the real world. It’s just not happening for me. Again, I respect everyone else’s decision, I’m not going to ever try to convince anyone of anything or any of that, I’m just standing rooted in what I believe in. 

“And though we’re dealing with this right now with Kev, I just know that I’m protected by the organization, I’m protected by my teammates, I’m protected by all the doctors I’ve talked to. And I just stand rooted.”

Read: Steve Nash Says Nets ‘Can’t Feel Sorry For Themselves’ After Kevin Durant Injury

“That’s what I’m saying,” Irving said. “You’re bringing my vaccination status into a basketball game, and I live my life, the majority of the time, when I’m away from this. So when I say I’m not getting vaccinated and I’m making a choice with my life, somehow it gets mixed into, ‘Well, what about the basketball?’ When it’s like no, bro. We live in a real world. 

“It’s great to be able to do this. I’m grateful for the opportunity. I love being with my teammates. I love playing on the Nets, but I’ve already been away enough time to think about this, to process it, to be able to make this decision, stand strong, understand that people are gonna agree and some people are gonna disagree.