Brooklyn Nets All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving finally made his season debut on Wednesday, January 5 against the Indiana Pacers. Irving returned as a part-time player remaining unable to play at home games. Due to the difficult nature of this year, New York City has a vaccine mandate. Therefore, Irving will not able to play any games in New York until he received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

In early October, Irving made his own choice to restrict himself from being a full-time member of the team. Nets GM Sean Marks stated that they will “not permit any member of [their] team to participate with part time availability.” From the start, Irving has made it clear that he is doing what he believes is best for himself when he said in October, “This is not a political thing; this is not about the NBA, not about any organization. This is about my life and what I am choosing to do.” 

Due to the recent spike of COVID-19 cases and injuries within the Nets organization, they allowed Irving to play, even though he did not get the vaccine. The Nets began to worry when they became shorthanded with seven players unavailable because of NBA’s health and safety protocols; this would leave a lot of heavy weight on Kevin Durant. Three of the five starters -James Harden, LaMarcus Aldridge, and DeAndre’ Bembry- are in health and safety protocols, which forces Durant, the NBA leading scorer, to play more minutes than the Nets would like him to. The Nets thought that they could not pass up the chance not playing with Irving.

Senior at Wayne Hills Joe Yonga, a fan of Kyrie Irving, believes that “it is unfortunate that Irving can only play games outside of New York City, but adding him to a team that is already dangerous makes the Nets even scarier.”

Given the long period of time that Irving has been away from the Nets (has not practiced with the Nets since October), Irving’s performance showed the work he has been putting in during his long lay-off away from the game. He played a total of 32 minutes, 22 with points, four assists, and three steals. Under the current COVID rules and restrictions, Irving is eligible to play in 21 of Brooklyn’s regular season games. With this season’s competitive Easter Conference, Brooklyn needs Irving in the game as much as possible.