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NEW YORK – Kyrie Irving joined the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday after a two-week absence from the team.
“I’m back, I’m happy to be back,” Irving told reporters. “And we got some great plays and we move on and I let my actions and my playing speak for itself as I expected. I just needed a break.”
Irving trained with the team on Tuesday and coach Steve Nash said he “expects” Irving to play against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. Irving had missed the team’s last seven games – five for personal reasons and two during conditioning.
Irving said he “has a lot of family and personal things going on. So I just want to leave it at that.”
While away for personal reasons, the league fined Irving $ 50,000 for breaking health and safety protocols and attending what appeared to be a family birthday party. He also lost more than $ 800,000 in salary for the two games he missed in quarantine.
Irving declined to answer whether or not he knew he was breaking the League’s coronavirus safety rules, saying, “Glad to be back. Thank you.”
The last game Irving played for Brooklyn was on Jan.5. The next day, a crowd of supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the United States Capitol. Irving said on Tuesday he needed to make a “separation” between current political and societal events in the United States and play in the NBA.
“If you don’t make that distinction,” Irving said, “then it’s easy to feel the weight of the world as you go out and play. So I would be lying sitting here saying no I feel what’s going on in the world, and I don’t pay attention. I just have a huge responsibility, I think, to continue to serve my community and the underserved. And when I play here, it just keeps leaving acquaintances with these guys and engaging in something, like I always say, bigger than us. “
Irving said it’s “hard to ignore” what’s going on in the world and he wants to continue to “make changes every day.” Still, he said he was determined to play basketball.
“When things get overwhelming in life, you just need to take a step back and realize what’s important,” Irving said. “And I love to play – that was never a question. I signed up, when it wasn’t even a thing for me.”
Irving apologized to fans who may have been frustrated or disappointed with his absence, saying he understood their point of view because “I started out as a fanatic. I’ve been involved in this organization since I am a child. “
“My commitment has always been to bring something special to Brooklyn,” Irving said. “It wasn’t just a championship. It was unity, equality, just bigger things than the game itself. It took a while and quite a few valleys to get home, at the beginning. So for me, I just take it every day, just being grateful. “
Irving said he addressed his teammates and the organization individually.
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