James Harden Desperately Wants to Get Unvaxxed Kyrie Irving Cleared to Play in New York: ‘I’m Gonna Give Him the Shot’
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The Brooklyn Nets welcomed their unvaccinated point guard Kyrie Irving back for road games, but his teammates want more.
Brooklyn had a statement game Wednesday night, relying on their big three of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Irving to beat the Chicago Bulls 138-112. But the Nets will have to play their next two contests without Irving because of New York City’s vaccine mandate. The star point guard remains unvaccinated and barred from the Nets’ arena for home games.
The rest of Irving’s teammates are vaccinated, thus eligible to play in every game and they’d like their superstar point guard to get on board to boost their chances of winning a title.
Following Brooklyn’s Wednesday night victory, Harden was asked about the prospects of getting Irving cleared to play in New York. “I’m gonna give him the shot,” Harden told reporters with a smile.
Is James Harden still holding out hope that Kyrie Irving can play at Barclays Center?
"I'm gonna give him the shot" pic.twitter.com/1tupopQFpT
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) January 13, 2022
Harden hasn’t feared many shots throughout his career, but Irving has been more selective on and off the court, remaining steadfast against getting the Covid jab. For the first two months of the season, Brooklyn chose to bar Irving from the team completely, but they reneged on that decision last month, inviting the point guard back after their fully vaccinated roster was ravaged by Covid.
Now the Nets are tasked with building chemistry while sporting two different lineups for home and road games. Aside from Harden forcing the shot on Irving, which seems unlikely, another way for Brooklyn to get their point guard playing in home games was recently revealed.
Disregarding New York City’s mandate is reprimanded with a nominal fine for a billion-dollar organization. The executive order states the first offense for defying the mandate is a warning. The second offense is a $1,000 fine, the third is $2,000, and the fourth to infinity offenses are $5,000. Meaning the Nets can choose to pay New York City to make the vaccine mandate for Irving disappear.
