NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving now has a decision to make: Get the COVID-19 vaccine, or sit games out without pay.
With COVID-19 vaccination mandates in New York City (and San Francisco), NBA spokesperson Mike Bass issued a statement on Wednesday: “Any player who elects not to comply with local vaccination mandates will not be paid for the games that he misses,” Bass wrote.
If Irving is unvaccinated, he would forfeit a huge chunk of his $34.9 million salary by missing the Nets’ 43 games in New York at the Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden. The Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins has said he is unvaccinated, and would lose out on millions of his $31.6 million in pay if he couldn’t play because of San Francisco’s vaccine mandate. (The exact amount of pay lost for the home games is still to be determined, according to ESPN.)
Wizards All-Star Bradley Beal and Magic forward Jonathan Isaac are among the other NBA players who have been outspoken about their decision not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Irving, of course, would neither confirm nor deny his vaccination status when asked by reporters on Nets Media Day. Instead, he told reporters to respect his privacy while he sorts the situation on his own. Lakers big man Dwight Howard followed Irving’s suit, insisting reporters in Los Angeles respect his privacy, as well, although Lakers GM Rob Pelinka has said that every player on the roster will be fully vaccinated by the start of the season next month.
“All the kind of questions kind of leading me into what’s happening, just please, everything will be released at a due date once we get this cleared up,” Irving said on Monday after multiple questions regarding his vaccination status. “But as of right now, just please respect my privacy regarding anything about home games, what’s happening, vaccination, please.”
Irving, however, did not attend Media Day in-person. The Nets did not give a reason for his physical absence, but players were unable to attend if they did not have a vaccine shot.
Irving was allowed to attend training camp in San Diego with the Nets because San Diego’s COVID-19 vaccination laws differ from those in New York City and San Francisco. His teammates did not express any concern over his potential limited availability on Media Day, but that could change as the first home game draws closer on Oct. 8.
“I expect it not to be [an issue]” Nets star Kevin Durant said. “It’s on Kyrie and that’s his personal decision. What he does is not on us to speculate what may happen. But we trust in Kyrie and I expect us to have our whole team at some point.”
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