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Although the organization is apparently losing hope of receiving its COVID-19 vaccine, Kevin Durant still believes Kyrie Irving will be a key part of the Brooklyn Nets this season.
Irving missed his second consecutive day of training on Wednesday because he is still not vaccinated against the coronavirus and is said to be in violation of New York City vaccination requirements. If he’s still not vaccinated, Irving won’t be able to play at Barclays Center.
While he’s not sure how, Durant isn’t giving up hope just yet – and believes the Nets are still a championship-caliber team with or without Irving.
“I imagine Kyrie is part of our team,” Durant said Wednesday, via ESPN. “Maybe I’m just naive, but that’s exactly how I feel. But I think everyone here has this self-confidence, in our group, that if we keep building we can do something special.
Nets reportedly lose hope Kyrie Irving gets vaccinated
Irving hasn’t practiced with the Nets yet, and the team isn’t sure when he’ll be able to join them on the pitch.
New York City’s vaccination mandate requires players to have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to enter Barclays Center or Madison Square Garden. The NBA has said it will also respect the mandate. San Francisco and Los Angeles have or will soon be implementing a similar mandate.
So as it stands, Irving won’t be able to play in any Nets home game. He can play in road games in New York and San Francisco, as long as he returns a negative coronavirus test.
Players breaking a local COVID-19 rule will lose 1 / 91.6th of their salary for each game missed. That means Irving will lose around $ 381,000 per game. If he misses the Nets’ 41 home games, he would be missing about $ 15.6 million.
While money alone seems like a big enough motivator to get a chance, the Nets have reportedly given up hope that Irving actually does. Head coach Steve Nash said on Tuesday the team would not consider moving practices outside of New York City to welcome Irving – who has repeatedly refused to speak about his unvaccinated status and will help apparently to advance vaccine conspiracy theories linked to secret societies and satan. .
Even though Durant knows how important Irving is to what they hope to accomplish this season, he’s unwilling to push Irving into getting the shot.
“He’s dealing with something personal right now,” Durant said via ESPN. “And while he’s taking care of that, we’re going to focus on ourselves here in the gym and keep working. When they’re ready to figure that out, he’ll find out… We want him to be part of this group. But a lot is out of our control and we’re going to let him figure that out for himself. That doesn’t mean I’m going to say I don’t want him on the team. He’s a huge part of what we do but the guys had to step up in his absence and be who they are and move on. “
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