When Kyrie Irving plays, he is arguably a Top 15 player who can occasionally raise his ceiling to that of a Top 10 player. Having to preface that sentence with “When Irving plays” is the issue as his availability has waned recently. Last season, Irving missed two stretches of multiple games that weren’t injury-related. This season he intended on becoming a part-time player for the Nets due to New York state’s vaccination requirement for professional sports home games despite the $17 million-plus he would lose.
The Nets front office pumped the brakes on that and made an unprecedented statement explaining that they will not permit Irving to play on a part-time basis. They do not want him back unless he’s all in, as they should demand. There remains the possibility that Irving does take the vaccine in the near future and rejoin the team. Still, one must wonder if there are people in the Nets organization tired of Irving’s absences and are thinking of moving on from him. To some, it may not be a matter of if Irving will unexpectedly miss time again, but when.
So now what?
