In Saturday’s 129-126 victory over the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks, Kyrie Irving tallied 38 points, five rebounds and five assists.
This is just a taste of the value Irving can provide whatever team he plays on (provided he’s not too busy being a drama queen), but for right now, he can only play when the Brooklyn Nets are on the road.
Thanks to a city-wide mandate, any player on the Nets must be vaccinated in order to play at home in the Barclays Center. Because Irving remains one of the few players in the NBA who is unvaccinated, he will not be able to suit up for home games -- unless the mandate is lifted.
Unfortunately, lifting that mandate isn’t something on New York City mayor Eric Mayor’s agenda, because the tyrant believes it would send a bad message to the rest of the citizens in New York City.
“Listen, I want Kyrie on the court. I would do anything to get that ring. So badly, I want it. But there's so much at stake here. And I spoke with the owner of the team. We want to find a way to get Kyrie on the court, but this is a bigger issue," Adams said. "I can't have my city closed down again. It would send the wrong message just to have an exception for one player when we're telling countless number of New York City employees 'If you don't follow the rules, you won't be able to be employed.’"
While he will not honestly admit it, nothing about what Adams has told the public is well-intentioned like he wants us to believe.
Preventing Irving from playing is not some kind-hearted move to keep people safe and to prevent another city-wide shutdown. It is just further proof that Adams refuses to loosen his white-knuckled grip of the power.
Refusing to allow Kyrie to play (even when unvaccinated players from other teams can play in Brooklyn) because of some nonsensical workplace requirement is not a sign that you care about anyone in New York. Rather, it is a sign that you are idiotic enough to believe that requiring the vaccine to keep your job is a good thing. Not only will the Nets suffer because they will not have one of their top players available full-time, the rest of New York will suffer because of Adams’ delusions.
The mayor’s stance is eerily similar to the position Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison took when he supported Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s decision to deport Novak Djokovic after the tennis star applied for a vaccine exemption to play in the Australian Open.
“Australians have made many sacrifices during this pandemic, and they rightly expect the result of those sacrifices to be protected,” Morrison asserted. “This is what the Minister is doing in taking this action today.”
Whether on American soil or halfway across the world, tyrants seem to believe the same thing: it is for your own good that they take away your freedom and ruins your lives, because it will definitely keep you safe.
What a crazy thing to believe.