FOUND HIM!
Out for ‘ personal reasons,’ Ky seen partying on video Also spotted on pol’s Zoom as Nets tip off
Kyrie Irving’s absence from the Nets took a couple of eyebrow-raising turns Tuesday. First when a video emerged overnight that appears to show him maskless at a large family birthday party, then when he hopped on a Zoom call for a Manhattan DA candidate just before the Nets tipped off.
The Kyrie Irving mystery deepened even further on Tuesday, when video showing the Nets star maskless at a large gathering appeared online overnight.
Late Monday, videos of Irving — who has been on personal leave from the Nets — his sister and his father at a birthday party emerged on Instagram. Asia, his sister, turned 30 on Tuesday, while Drederick, his father, turned 55 on Monday. It is not clear if the video is current. The NBA is reviewing the video.
“We are aware of a video on social media featuring Kyrie Irving at a family gathering,” Nets GM Sean Marks said in a statement. “We are reviewing the circumstances with both Kyrie and the NBA in order to determine compliance with the health and safety protocols.”
Tuesday’s 122-116 win against Denver marked the fourth straight game that Irving has sat out, but the All-Star point guard did find time to attend a Zoom launch for Tahanie Aboushi’s Manhattan district attorney campaign that started just a half-hour before his Nets were tipping off without him.
Irving’s absent streak is all but assured of reaching five Wednesday against the Knicks and could well stretch beyond that for what the Nets are calling personal reasons.
The Post reported last week that Irving’s absence is related to the U.S. Capitol riot, but the Nets, Irving and his publicist have offered no explanations for the personal leave.
The Nets’ statement was brief and neutral, offering neither support nor condemnation. And when coach Steve Nash was asked his reaction to the video and whether he felt obligated to talk to Irving, he demurred.
“I didn’t see it,” Nash said. “But I think that Sean made a statement. And for my position, I’m going to leave it that, Sean and the organization’s statement and really focus on the game. Great challenge, and I’m going to need all my focus and our team’s focus.
“There’s been communication, but I think that’s all in-house. We keep that to ourselves and we try to figure out our home front privately.”
The Nets haven’t offered any timetable for Irving’s return, with Kevin Durant saying they will “pray for the best” and Nash only saying he expects the guard to play at some point this season.
“Sure. Right now I’ve got to focus on coaching this team and getting the best out of them. I can’t make any predictions or prognostications about things outside of this building, we’ve got our hands full,” Nash said.
In the statement, Marks said: “Kyrie remains away from the team due to personal reasons. A date of his return has yet to be finalized. In the meantime, we will continue to stay focused on our organizational goals. Kyrie will have the opportunity to address his absence when he is ready to do so.”
When Irving returns isn’t completely up to him. And his actions have left it in the hands of the NBA, which is investigating the situation.
The party seems to have been held in Irving’s hometown of West Orange, N.J. Rob Perez — also known as WorldWideWob — reported that the party was at 4Sixty6 Caterers.
Irving’s publicist did not comment when contacted by The Post. A person from 4Sixty6 declined comment to The Post.
The league has not yet made a determination whether Irving violated its health and safety protocols, which read, “While in their team’s home market, team personnel will be prohibited from going to bars, lounges or clubs, from attending live entertainment or sports events, from using gyms, spas or pools, or from participating in social gatherings with more than 15 people.”
It’s unclear how many people attended the event or whether the league would deem this a social gathering. Irving has been getting daily testing — Nash said Monday the star guard had gotten tested as recently as Sunday — but he could have to undergo quarantine due to exposure to a dangerous situation, even if no members of the party have tested positive for COVID-19.
Houston’s James Harden went maskless at a party, ended up getting fined $50,000 and had to quarantine for four days. A player who misses games under such circumstances could lose game checks.
The Post spoke with NBA medical director Dr. John DiFiori about the league’s health and safety protocols, including those that could apply in Irving’s case.
“There are situations where those exposures are more concerning than others,” Dr. DiFiori told The Post. “It’s similar to what you hear [about] a general population, where there’s a gathering of people and someone at that gathering was positive or has had COVID … and was eating with people outside of their household.
“All the things that we know of, like if someone has a child at school and the child contracts COVID and comes home in the household and the parents are exposed or other siblings. Those are higher-risk situations for someone converting to positive. So those are the ones we’re really quite focused on when we do contact tracing.”