Nets’ Kyrie Irving refuses to talk about immunization status, asks for Zoom’s confidentiality on Media Day

NEW YORK – Due to New York City’s COVID-19 regulations, Kyrie Irving had to remotely participate in Media Day on Monday. As 15 of his Brooklyn Nets teammates sat on a podium at Barclays Center, gathered reporters were to speak to Irving through a screen.

Irving’s Zoom lighting wasn’t great, but nothing could obscure the elephant in the room. The city requires every Nets player to have received at least one dose of vaccine to enter the arena or training facility, in the absence of a religious or medical exemption. Irving has not been vaccinated against COVID-19, Fox Sports’ Yaron Weitzman reported.

Nets general manager Sean Marks said last week that City’s demands would not be a hindrance for the team. If Irving isn’t vaccinated and doesn’t get a exemption, however, he won’t be able to train with the Nets in Brooklyn or play in home games.

Sitting in front of a bookshelf, Irving said that “living in this public sphere is just a lot of questions about what’s going on in Kyrie’s world.” But he had no intention of answering it. When asked directly if he was vaccinated or if he would comply with city requirements at the end of training camp, Irving appealed to his right to privacy.

“I appreciate your question, brother,” Irving said. “Honestly, I like to keep this stuff private, man. He said he would “handle things the right way with my team and move forward with a plan. So, you know, obviously I can’t be there today. But that doesn’t mean that I put limits on my future to be able to join the team. “

He then warned that if anyone had any further questions on the subject, “it will be the same answer.”

Irving’s aunt Tyki recently said Rolling stone that his position is “not based on religion, it is based on morality”. Tyki also called Dr Anthony Fauci, the President’s Chief Medical Advisor, “Dr False-y”. Rolling stone reported that Irving recently liked Instagram posts from an anti-vaccination conspiracy theorist. Reporters didn’t ask Irving about it, but one asked why he didn’t want to clarify anything.

“Please respect my privacy,” he replied. “Next question.”

Irving has spoken enthusiastically about doing “some races at this championship” in Brooklyn. He said he wanted to “enjoy a lot of smiles and a good time” with his teammates and “create a future together”. This cheerful stuff is normal for the most upbeat day in the NBA calendar, but its tone changed when asked to play home games this season.

“Again, I’d like to keep this all private,” Irving said. “Please just respect my privacy. For example, for all questions that lead up to what’s going on, you know, just, please, it will all be posted on a new date, once that we’ll have that sorted out. But from now on, just please respect my privacy regarding everything to do with the home games, what’s going on, the vaccination. Please. “

Irving put his teammates in the awkward position of having to answer for him. A reporter asked Bruce Brown and Joe Harris, sitting side by side on the podium, if they were concerned about Irving’s availability and if they had spoken to Irving about the vaccine. Brown and Harris looked at each other, neither excited to answer the question. There was laughter in the room. Four seconds passed before Brown said he had no concerns.

“Yeah, I don’t have any concerns either,” said Harris. “And no, I didn’t tell him about the vaccine.”

When asked if he was concerned about Irving’s availability, Kevin Durant simply replied, “No.” Neither Durant nor any Nets player directly said he expected Irving to get the shot. Rather than committing to the possibility that Irving could only play on the road, everyone basically acted like this wasn’t a big deal.

“It’s on Kyrie and it’s his personal decision, what he does,” Durant said. “It’s not for us to speculate on what may happen, but we trust Kyrie and I expect we will have our entire team at some point.”

A few minutes earlier, David Letterman, posing as a reporter for “The Basketball Digest”, had asked Durant if playing against the Pelicans made him laugh. Durant laughed, saying, “Yeah.” Media Day is always a joke, but it’s generally harmless. Another kind of ridicule was Irving’s press conference. In the middle of the Zoom session, he started streaming on Instagram Live, and returned to the stream after it was finished. He walked out laughing as he told viewers that he hopes they enjoyed their clip from Media Day. Then, with a straight face, Irving said, “I don’t want to create drama anymore. That’s not what I’m here for.”