In a normal season, Kyrie Irving usually has a case as one of the top 15 players in the NBA. But 2021-22 was anything but normal for Irving.
The Brooklyn Nets guard was only able to play in 29 of a possible 82 regular-season games after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19. New York City’s vaccination mandate made it so that he couldn’t play home games, and more than two months of the season had passed before the Nets relented on giving him part-time status.
While he was his usual spectacular self when he played, him being available for just 35% of the season hurt Brooklyn and might’ve been the catalyst to their first-round playoff sweep — Irving even admitted to feeling like he let the team down. All that considered, it’s hard to understand why ESPN analyst and former NBA player Jalen Rose gave Irving an All-NBA Third Team vote, as revealed Wednesday in the voting results.
Maybe Jalen Rose put Kyrie All-NBA Third team because he played a third of the games
— Kofie (@Kofie) May 25, 2022
Two guards can be voted to each of the three All-NBA teams, meaning Rose thought Irving had a top-six season amongst guards. He was alone in that sentiment. His ballot was the only one out of 100 to give Irving a vote.
The six guards who garnered enough votes to actually make All-NBA were Luka Doncic and Devin Booker for first team, Ja Morant and Stephen Curry for second team, and Chris Paul and Trae Young for third team. Rose voted for all but Young, snubbing a player who led the NBA in total points and assists, played in 76 games and dragged the Atlanta Hawks to the playoffs.
Playing more than double the games Irving did, Young averaged more points (28.4 to 27.4), more assists (9.7 to 5.8) and more win shares per 48 minutes (.181 to .147). Voting for Irving over Young is the type of thing that makes people like Jayson Tatum think there should be a set criteria for All-NBA.
“I think there should be some rules in place,” Tatum said Wednesday after his first All-NBA First Team selection. “I don’t know exactly the number, but maybe you should have to play a certain amount of games…”
"Joel Embiid was second in MVP voting and made second team. Doesn't really make too much sense."
Jayson Tatum speaks out on the voting criteria for the All-NBA team pic.twitter.com/F0StOVEbfM
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 25, 2022
I understand where those people are coming from, but a part of me also thinks voting should remain without limitations. If Irving averaged 50 points in those 29 games, we would be having a different conversation about his All-NBA merits. To me, this is simply about voters being more responsible with something that can literally impact the amount of money players make.
Rose made a terrible judgement call. It’s as simple as that. Next time, he needs to be better.
