When Kyrie Irving returns to the court for the Nets in January, he’ll only be eligible to play in certain games since he remains unvaccinated for COVID-19. New York City’s vaccine mandate will prevent him from playing in Brooklyn or in games at Madison Square Garden. International travel restrictions will also keep him out of road games in Toronto.
However, the Nets don’t expect Irving’s part-time availability to disrupt the team’s continuity, as multiple players and head coach Steve Nash said on Thursday.
“I may be a little naive but I think I just keep it really simple,” Nash said, per Nick Friedell of ESPN. “Kyrie plays on the road and we figure out how he rejoins the group, finds his rhythm, and his place in the team and when we come home we’re back to normal, the way we’ve been all year. So I’m just trying to keep it really simple.”
“He’s a high IQ player,” Kevin Durant said of his All-Star teammate. “It’s just a matter of him getting his legs up under him and his wind up under him. And then for us we’re going to run plays for him, we’ll try to look for him. We play team basketball — but he can adapt and do anything out there so we’re not worried about him.”
It remains unclear when Irving will be ready to make his season debut. He has exited the health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month, but continues to work on ramping up his conditioning in advance of his return. The Nets’ next two road games are on Jan. 5 in Indiana and Jan. 12 in Chicago, so those are the most realistic target dates for Kyrie for now.
Here’s more on Irving and his impending return:
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