Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets is eligible to return full time for his team this season after New York City amended its COVID-19 mandates for unvaccinated individuals.
New York Mayor Eric Adams will lift the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on athletes Thursday, paving the way for Brooklyn Nets’ shooting guard to play at the Barclays Center on Sunday.
The changes are a piece of welcome news to Major League Baseball teams New York Yankees and Mets as well who would have been unable to play their home openers under previous rules as they have the highest number of unvaccinated individuals.
The New York Yankees’ home opener is April 7 while the New York Mets will welcome back fans on April 15.
The rollback of the mandate that will apply to all private businesses in the city would cover professional athletes and performers, and come on the heels of discussions that had given hope to NBA and MLB teams that the long-awaited move would come to fruition.
The Nets, currently in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and subject to the play-in tournament that begins April 12, would get Kyrie Irving back, who has been kept out of their 35 home games this season.
Irving who turned 30 on Wednesday has been phenomenal on the road averaging 27.7 points in 19 games this season.
The absence of Kyrie Irving had dominated headlines since the start of the season. It was not the first controversial move by the maverick superstar. He refused to get vaccinated in a show of support to all the individuals who lost their jobs because of Covid mandates around the country. His decision caused friction among the squad as well with James Harden forcing the trade to conference rivals Philadelphia 76ers
With all this drama behind them, the Nets will be looking to make a strong push for the Eastern Conference.
