Kyrie Irving: Will get vaccinated| Why not playing| Not playing

Kyrie Andrew Irving is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association. He was named the Rookie of the Year after being selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft.

Kyrie Irving: Will get vaccinated| Why not playing| Not playing

Will get vaccinated:

Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins and Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving faced similar predicaments entering the 2021 NBA season.

Both reportedly expressed skepticism about the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine, which has proven to drastically reduce severe illness and death. Both were concerned about public pressure campaigns to get more people vaccinated, even though that’s been employed on countless occasions to inoculate large swaths of people against deadly diseases.

Why not playing:

The Warriors blew out the Nets 117-99. Wiggins had a strong second quarter in particular, finishing with 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Irving had zero points, because he did not play.

Irving has instead opted to take a convoluted stand on behalf of other stubborn people, as he or someone in his camp relayed to Shams Charania last month. “This is about a grander fight than the one on the court and Irving is challenging a perceived control of society and people’s livelihood,” is what Charania regurgitated.

Not playing:

So that’s who’s joined Irving in solidarity, while his undermanned squad is already missing sharpshooter Joe Harris and big man Nicolas Claxton due to injuries. Wiggins, on the other hand, is protecting himself and others around him while filling an instrumental role on the team with the best record in the NBA.

Round one of their two-game matchup goes to Wiggins. We’ll see if Irving is back for round two in late January.