{"id":820434,"date":"2021-09-27T14:29:16","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T18:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=820434"},"modified":"2021-09-27T14:29:18","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T18:29:18","slug":"kyrie-irving-not-present-at-brooklyn-media-days-as-questions-around-vaccination-status-linger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kyrie-irving-not-present-at-brooklyn-media-days-as-questions-around-vaccination-status-linger\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyrie Irving Not Present At Brooklyn Media Days As Questions Around Vaccination Status Linger"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fkyrie-irving-not-present-at-brooklyn-media-days-as-questions-around-vaccination-status-linger%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=820434&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1322582529.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>NBA media days have arrived, and as always, there is a general theme.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This year, the theme will be COVID-19, and the handful of NBA players that have decided not to receive the vaccine.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Out of all the professional sports leagues in America, the NBA is viewed as the league that handled the COVID-19 pandemic in the most \u201cscientific\u201d way. The pandemic in the United States essentially began at the time when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz first tested positive for the virus, shutting down the season for four long months before the league was able to restart the 2020 season again. When the league did resume play, they did so in a \u201cbubble\u201d in Orlando, Florida, that followed strict guidelines in order to keep the virus from spreading throughout the NBA. Whatever the league did, it worked, as the NBA was able to crown a champion for the 2020 season.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The 2021 season was closer to normal than the 2020 season, but NBA arenas still did not see full crowds until the end of the season. Now, with the vaccine widely available, commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA are hopeful that the upcoming NBA season will be as close to normal as possible.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The league has opted against mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for players, but is making a strong push to have 100% of its players fully vaccinated.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"8.2805429864253\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">90 percent of NBA players are currently fully vaccinated, sources tell <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAthletic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheAthletic<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Stadium?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Stadium<\/a>. Player vaccination rate has been rising as training camps open next week.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1441156365578391553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 23, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>One player who appears to have decided against the vaccine is Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving. K<\/span><span>nown for his eccentric ways of thinking, Irving was not present at Brooklyn\u2019s media day.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThat\u2019s on Kyrie and that\u2019s his personal decision. What he does is not on us to speculate what may happen,\u201d Nets star Kevin Durant <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/32291549\/sources-brooklyn-nets-star-kyrie-irving-miss-team-media-day-due-nyc-covid-19-proof-vaccine-requirement\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cWe trust in Kyrie, and I expect us to have our whole team at some point.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s a decision that is sure to become an issue for the Nets, as two NBA cities \u2014 New York City and San Francisco \u2014 will require professional athletes to show proof of at least one dose of the vaccine to play indoors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>How unvaccinated players will go about a season in which there are arenas that require proof of vaccination in order to play is unclear, but there is the chance that they will simply not participate in their teams\u2019 games in those cities.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Irving participated in an Instagram live during Brooklyn\u2019s media days and did not confirm whether or not he is vaccinated.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cYou gotta make sure you respect the privacy,\u201d Irving <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/09\/27\/kyrie-irving-downplays-vaccine-drama-at-nets-media-day\/\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cI don\u2019t want to create any more drama, that\u2019s not what I\u2019m here for. I\u2019m going continue to inspire and lead in the right way. Don\u2019t say I never did anything for y\u2019all. I hope y\u2019all enjoyed that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On Saturday, Rolling Stone magazine published an article titled \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/culture\/culture-features\/nba-anti-vaxxers-covid-1231988\/\">The NBA\u2019s Anti-Vaxxers Are Trying to Push Around the League\u2014And It\u2019s Working<\/a>,<b>\u201d <\/b><span>detailing the issues the NBA may face with unvaccinated players and the few players that have decided against the vaccination so far.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThere are so many other players outside of him who are opting out, I would like to think they would make a way,\u201d says Kyrie\u2019s aunt, Tyki Irving, who runs the seven-time All-Star\u2019s family foundation and is one of the few people in his regular circle of advisors. \u201cIt 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\u2019re, 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Andrew Wiggins of the Golden State Warriors and Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic are two NBA players who are unvacccinated.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cYou can play on the same court. We can touch the same ball. We can bump chests,\u201d Isaac <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/culture\/culture-features\/nba-anti-vaxxers-covid-1231988\/\">said<\/a>. \u201cWe can do all those things on the court. And then when it comes to being on the bus, we have to be in different <\/span><i><span>parts<\/span><\/i><span> of the bus? To me, it doesn\u2019t seem logically consistent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf you <\/span><i><span>are<\/span><\/i><span> vaccinated, in other places you still have to wear the mask regardless. It\u2019s like, \u2018OK, then what is the mask necessarily for?\u2019\u201d Isaac continues. \u201cAnd if Kyrie says that from his position of his executive power in the NBPA, then kudos to him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Wiggins was denied a religious exemption from the NBA last week.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NBA has reviewed and denied Andrew Wiggins\u2019 request for religious exemption from the San Francisco Department of Public Health\u2019s order requiring COVID-19 vaccination for all participants age 12 and older at large indoor events,\u201d the league <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/32272032\/nba-denies-andrew-wiggins-request-religious-exemption-covid-19-vaccine\">said<\/a> in a statement. \u201cWiggins will not be able to play in Warriors home games until he fulfills the city\u2019s vaccination requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked about playing in Nets home games considering the vaccination rules in place, Irving declined to answer on Monday.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"9.953488372093\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Kyrie Irving on if he expects to play in home games this season:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everything will be released at a due date once we get this cleared up. As of right now, please respect my privacy.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/W7fqrFkWY5\">pic.twitter.com\/W7fqrFkWY5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsCenter\/status\/1442527672358383616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 27, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>The NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer \u2014 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar \u2014 has been an advocate for the vaccine since it became available, even receiving his shot on video. He told Rolling Stone that players that refuse to get the jab are \u201ccontributing to these deaths.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThey are failing to live up to the responsibilities that come with celebrity. Athletes are under no obligation to be spokespersons for the government, but this is a matter of public health,\u201d the Hall-of-Famer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/culture\/culture-features\/nba-anti-vaxxers-covid-1231988\/\">told<\/a><\/span><i><span>&nbsp;Rolling Stone<\/span><\/i><span> in an e-mail. Abdul-Jabbar is especially disappointed in athletes of color: \u201cBy not encouraging their people to get the vaccine, they\u2019re contributing to these deaths. I\u2019m also concerned about how this perpetuates the stereotype of dumb jocks who are unable to look at verified scientific evidence and reach a rational conclusion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As training camps get underway and the NBA regular season approaches, those that have not been vaccinated will continue to be in the news as the nationwide push for the vaccine continues. How the league will handle these players remains to be seen.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to&nbsp;<\/i><i>sports@dailywire.com<\/i><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NBA media days have arrived, and as always, there is a general theme.\u00a0This year, the theme will be COVID-19, and the handful of NBA players that have decided not to &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-820434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}