NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving says he does not care what the outside world thinks about his decision not to get the COVID-19 vaccination — and is steadfast in his belief that he made the “right decision for me.”
“I can really say that I stood firm on what I believed in, what I wanted to do with my body,” Irving said after the Nets practiced Friday. “I think that should be not just an American right, I think that should be a human right.”
Irving’s vaccination status has been a topic of conversation ever since New York City’s vaccination mandate went into effect before the start of the NBA season. Irving, who repeatedly made it clear he would not be getting the vaccine, did not start the season with the Nets because they did not want to accommodate him as a part-time player. The organization reversed course after a team-wide COVID outbreak in December, and Irving made his season debut in a Jan. 5 win over the Indiana Pacers.
For two months, Irving was only able to play in road games before New York City mayor Eric Adams rolled back the city’s vaccination requirement for professional athletes and performers at the end of March.
Irving’s response came after being asked what his message to people who have followed his story would be — specifically what he would say to people who acknowledge that he had every right to make the stance he made, but by making that choice, he put his team in a much less advantageous position — especially as the playoffs begin. The Nets come into their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Boston Celtics as the seventh seed following a regular season in which Irving’s vaccination status hung over the organization.
“I can’t address everybody, but as we move forward in time, I know that I made the right decision for me,” Irving said.
Irving said he was appreciative of the support he received within the organization, when asked if he felt he had something to prove in the postseason after the way the many within the team stood up for him after the first part of the season.
“It’s a great feeling when you know during uncomfortable times you can really lean in on different individuals despite their role in different sectors or different places in our organization or things that they stand for,” Irving said. “And some people stood by me in public, some people stood by me in private and I’m OK with both. Some people disagree with me in public, some people disagree with me in private. It doesn’t really bother me as much as it did in the beginning of the season, because everything was just so new.”
Irving said he was aware of all the commentary that was being directed his way because of his decision.
“I heard everything,” Irving said. “I was called so many different names. … It was part of a struggle of mine to look at the season, a game that I love — my job, I can’t even keep calling it a game, it’s my job — … [for] that to be stripped away based on a mandate or something that was in place.”