Kyrie wouldn’t trade places with Hizzoner Durant says Nets just gotta go play as slump drags on
BOSTON — “Man, shoutout to Eric Adams.”
Those are the first words Nets star Kyrie Irving spoke in response to a question about the continued existence of a vaccine mandate that prevents him from playing at Barclays Center or Madison Square Garden.
Mayor Adams repealed the Key2NYC vaccine mandate on March 4, a move that goes into effect on March 7 and allows the unvaccinated Irving to enter Barclays Center as a spectator. But because of a private sector employer’s vaccine mandate, Irving cannot take two steps off the Nets’ bench onto the court and play with his teammates in home games.
And despite his status as a New Jersey resident, the Daily News confirmed with the City that Irving does not qualify for the vaccination exemption afforded to unvaccinated players on visiting teams.
“It’s not an easy job to be the mayor of New York City, and with COVID looming, vaccination mandates, everything going on in our world with this war in Ukraine and everybody feeling it across the world right now, I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right now trying to delegate whether or not one basketball player can come and play at home.”
The mandate (and Irving’s decision not to get vaccinated) has dealt a crushing blow on the Nets’ odds of winning a championship this season. As a result, their second-best player has been available for fewer than half the total number of games this season (Irving is also ineligible to play games in Toronto due to Canada’s vaccine mandate).
“I think we have one of the most changing lineups in the league, I think us and the Lakers,” Irving said. “So it just shows you that when you don’t have that consistency, and you don’t have guys in the lineup, it takes a big hindrance on everything, and I take my accountability for that as well.”
The mandate continues to stifle the Nets’ odds of keeping a capsizing ship afloat. They have lost 17 of their last 20 games, free-falling from No. 1 in the East to ninth place as of Sunday, and have only 17 games left.
Irving is only eligible for six of those 17 games, including the next two: at Charlotte on Tuesday and at Philadelphia on Thursday, meaning he will only be eligible to play in four of the final 15 regular-season games.
Irving, however, harbors no ill will toward Mayor Adams for his decision not to make an exception for him—or at least he doesn’t show that ill will publicly.
“I appreciate his comments and his stance,” he said. “He knows where I stand, and I know one day we’ll be able to break bread together, and he’ll be able to come to the games.”
BOSTON – There’s no time to be concerned, says Kevin Durant. The Nets have lost 17 of their last 20 games and, after painting Durant’s return from a Jan. 15 MCL sprain as the turning point for their season, they have lost the first two games since he’s been back.
He scored 31 in a loss to the Heat— which did not have All-Stars Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, or P.J. Tucker and Victor Oladipo—then scored 37 in a loss to the Celtics that moved them from eighth to ninth in the East.
“Concerned and worried, those words like—it’s easy to do that. It’s easy to be concerned, it’s easy to be worried and (ticked) off and mad,” Durant said. “It’s easy to do that. We can point fingers and blame our season on other things, but let’s just go play.”
“We got another game. We got 17 more and let’s see what happens. You know, at the end, we just take them a day at a time, a day at a time, and I’m confident in this group.”
Durant said he’s still confident in his team.
“We came out there tonight and put ourselves in position to win the basketball game,” he said. “We just didn’t win. And I know that sucks because we just (fell) under .500, but we can’t complain, worry, be concerned, you know? That’s not going to do nothing for us.
“We’ve got to just put our heads down and go to work and just keep coming in to work every day and giving it our all. And that’s what we want to do tomorrow and when we play Charlotte.”
25K CLUB
Durant’s 37 points against the Celtics moved him past the 25,000 career points mark. He is in 23rd place on the NBA’s all-time leading scorers list with 25,004 points and is in position to surpass Jerry West (25,192) and Reggie Miller (25,279) if he keeps his current scoring pace through the final 17 games.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said of the achievement. “I should be at 30 (thousand) right now, to be honest, but it’s cool. It’s cool to reach that milestone and be among the greats, and I just got to keep pushing and keep going and see where I end up.”
ANOTHER MUST WIN
The Nets play the Hornets on Tuesday. That is the team they have fallen behind in the standings.
“We know what we’ve got to do. We know what situation we’re in. We want to win every game, so we’re going to come out there and try to win that game,” Durant said. “You know there’s a sense of urgency, but we’re not putting pressure on us every time we’re around each other like ‘we have to win each (game).’
“We just go out there and play and see what happens.”