Kyrie Irving Admits Asking The Nets To Waive Him Or Buy Him Out During Vaccine Controversy

Kyrie Irving has made a lot of noise in the world of streaming this offseason. From personal life revelations to honest conversations with the public, Irving seems to be indulging in the streaming world on the road to recovery from his ACL injury this offseason, which he suffered in March 2025. 

While streaming recently on Twitch, Kyrie Irving opened up about his time with the Nets. After Kevin Durant made revelations about their time together with the Nets, Irving promised that he would address what had happened as well, and now he has delivered with his honest take. 

“Even the people that I was in business with were pro-vaccine. And I’m like, ok look, that’s fine, just leave me the f--- out of this, let me go somewhere. I even told the Nets to release me, I said, Yo, can you please just release me so I can---obviously the money situation is a different situation, I’m f------ Kyrie, I say that very aware of my position, they weren’t just going to let me clock out and go somewhere.”

Kyrie Irving was expecting to earn $35.3 million when the Vaccine protocol primarily barred him from playing for the Nets in the 2021-22 season. Irving, who played only 29 games that season, missed 35 home games over New York's mandate on vaccines in public spaces. 

He ended up averaging 27.4 points, 5.8 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game while shooting 41.8% from beyond the arc. Of course, in the aftermath of his decision, the superteam fell apart, but Kyrie Irving cannot single-handedly be blamed for this situation. 

"S--- Got Wild": Kyrie Irving On Ime Udoka Leaving Nets To Join Celtics

Kevin Durant had also mentioned in his appearance on LeBron James' podcast that the departure of coaches from the team was another reason why the Nets fell apart. Irving further deliberated upon this when he was streaming recently. 

“Ime Udoka literally went to the Boston Celtics after coaching us. That was crazy, bro! Bro, that was crazy! For Ime Udoka to literally go to Boston the next year. He said you got coaches in other teams, and it wasn’t anybody’s fault; it was just an opportunity. But we’re in the same division.”

“Can you imagine going against a coach that literally saw all of our strengths and weaknesses, and now we’re playing against him. You know what I’m saying? So Boston was ready for us. Ime had them ready; he had the Celtics ready, dog! When we played them in the 2022 Playoffs, s--- got wild! We had a lot going on, KD is right.” 

Ime Udoka spent one season as an assistant coach under Steve Nash before he got his first head coaching role with the Celtics. Udoka immediately capitalized on his knowledge of the Nets and eventually destroyed them with a 4-0 sweep in the Playoffs. 

Irving averaged 21.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in that series, while Kevin Durant averaged 26.3 points, 6.3 assists, and 5.8 rebounds. But by this time, the superteam with James Harden had already fallen apart as he was traded in February before the Playoffs. Therefore, by this time, their plans had already started falling apart. But this shows the various reasons why the Nets' superteam was a failure.