The Brooklyn Nets face one of the more complicated situations with a fully healthy player in recent NBA history. Kyrie Irving is physically able to play all of their games barring injury, but is limited to just being a participant when the team is away from Barclays Center.
Irving began the season completely away from the Nets, who opted to not allow him to be a part-time participant who only plays in road games.
After dealing with no shortage of injuries and COVID cases after the spread of the Omicron variant, the Nets opted to bring Irving back into the fold—who made his season debut on Wednesday during the team’s 129-121 win over the Indiana Pacers.
“It felt amazing,” Irving said, via Mike Vaccaro of New York Post. “I don’t want to take this for granted. But it’s been months.”
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Kyrie Irving ended his performance with 22 points, four assists, and three steals in 32 minutes of action. While he did not end up converting on either of his two attempts from beyond the arc, he went a staggering 9-of-15 (60.0%) on two-point field goals.
“It was incredible,” Durant said. “It was amazing to have him out there. his game is just so beautiful. He makes the game so much easier for everyone out there. It’s amazing to see him out there, the crowd showing him love. The game of basketball is happy to have him back.”
The impact Irving offered was clear. James Harden did not have one of his better outings and Irving’s production offered needed support for Kevin Durant, who ended up with 39 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists.
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For now, Kyrie Irving is limited to being a ‘part-time player’ where he is only able to participate in road games. There are 21 road games remaining on the Nets’ schedule that Irving could be a participant before the playoffs begin.
“I’m just taking it one day at a time. It’s not an ideal situation, and I’m always praying that things get figured out and we’re able to come to some collective agreement”, Irving said. “I don’t want to make it simply about me and simply about someone lessening the rules for me. I know what the consequences were, I still know what they are. But right now, I’m just going to take it one day at a time.”
It remains to be seen if the Brooklyn Nets and New York City can come to some sort of a ‘collective agreement’ as Irving would hope. For now, there does not appear to be any change to the COVID vaccination mandate in the cards.
“One day at a time,” Irving said.
