Don’t put it all on Kyrie

 


Kyrie Irving is the currently the most high-profile NBA player who is part of 5% of the league that is unvaccinated. Yet, the way it is spoken about you would think that Kyrie is the only player holding out on getting the vaccine. He, however, is in a worse position than his anti-vax peers, as his team the Brooklyn Nets resides in New York which currently has a vaccine mandate in place prohibiting unvaccinated players from playing home games.

Kyrie’s refusal to get the vaccine or answer questions about the choice during the NBA’s media day has given more fuel to Kyrie hate train that exists amongst NBA fans; a train fuelled by Irving’s flat earth ponderings, impromptu absences, and disgruntled Boston Celtics fans. Irving’s decision not to get the vaccine is currently being added to this list undeservedly.  

As stated, Kyrie Irving isn’t the only unvaccinated player left in the league, but he stands to lose the most due to the mandate in place in New York. If he played on one of the 28 other NBA teams that didn’t have vaccine mandates in place, this wouldn’t be a cause for concern, especially as the mandates don’t affect visiting players. Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal shared that he has no plans to get the during the same media day, with a curious comment about the effectiveness of vaccines, but this has received little to no coverage. Due to Kyrie Irving being the bigger star, along with the already sour opinion of him held by some NBA commentators, he has become the heavily criticised poster boy of the unvaccinated.

Golden State Warriors forward, Andrew Wiggins was under similar criticism to Kyrie until he ultimately decided to get the vaccine at the start of October. Though he ultimately got the vaccine Wiggins has stated in interviews that he feels getting the vaccine was something that he was ‘kind of forced to’ do. He went on to say ‘they made the rules of what goes in your body and what you do.’ Is this really the sentiment that at people want to push Kyrie and others towards ? Having players feel that they have no ownership over their body? 

I am not in agreement with Kyrie’s decision not to get the vaccine and as a result leave his teammates high and dry for the season, putting into question what many had assumed would be the Net’s guaranteed championship run. But ,I’m also not in favour of people acting as if he is completely ridiculous for not getting the vaccine.

While I will still have questions surrounding the other things Irving does, I will not put his unvaccinated status in this bracket. He’s current choice to be unvaccinated isn’t just another example of Kyrie being "weird" again, but an important decision that he shouldn’t be bullied into.

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