The drama involving Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving, seems as if there is no end in sight. Given what is happening, don’t expect the fiasco to end anytime soon. As these situations worsen, we will take a look inside the situations.
Ben Simmons
From the Philadelphia 76ers’ Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks to the present day goes on one of the most frustrating holdouts between the Sixers and a disgruntled top defender in the league. You may be wondering when this will end, but how did they get here in the first place?
Less than 10 hours before the Sixers were going to play the Hawks in Game 7 of their second-round playoff series, Simmons texted his brother Sean Tribe and several of his teammates, “They’re not letting me play.”
He was being held out of the team’s shootaround because of a possible exposure to a team masseuse, who returned an inconclusive COVID test. Several players were questions on if they seen the masseuse that morning, only Simmons said he did.
However, many within the team questioned if Simmons actually saw the masseuse, or if he was just trying to get out of playing with the Sixers. He took just 10 shots combined in Games 5 and 6. He averaged 11.6 shots per game in his career, and he missed 16 of his previous 23 free throws.
By that point, his confidence took a hit. The skepticism from that morning made everything worse. Later that day, Simmons’ test results came negative, and he was cleared to play. But he was between a rock and a hard place, and so were the Sixers. He took four shots all game, but contributed in other areas to help the Sixers keep it close.
Then came the play that cost the Sixers the series.
With 3:35 left and with the Sixers down 88-86, Simmons took the ball at the right post. Three power dribbles with his left hand, spinning baseline, he left Danilo Gallinari off-balance and leaning in the opposite direction, then took another dribble. He was within four feet of the basket. There, he had two options: Either put in a wide-open dunk over Trae Young or to foul him.
Instead, he chose to pass the ball to an unsuspecting Matisse Thybulle, who went up for his own dunk, but was fouled by Gallinari and a rotating John Collins.
Color commentator and former player Jim Jackson said on that play, “That’s when you know the game is in your head. That’s a dunk for Ben Simmons right there. ... You gotta shoot that shot. Be confident.”
The Sixers lost 103-96. Simmons, who had five points, 8 rebounds, and 13 assists, was benched for the final 54 seconds. After the game, many believed that Simmons’ exit from the Sixers was inevitable.
After that game, head coach Doc Rivers, who repeatedly praised Simmons and long wanted to minimize the impact of his shooting woes, didn’t have an answer on if the team can win a championship around him. “I don’t know the question or the answer to that right now,” said Rivers. “So I don’t know the answer to that.”
Joel Embiid, who openly campaigned for Simmons to win Defensive Player of the Year, was asked if there was a turning point to the game. “I thought the turning point was when we—I don’t know how to say it—but I thought the turning point was just, we had an open shot and we made one free throw.”
These two quotes were cited all offseason as a tipping point to when Simmons said, “I had a bad series. I expect that [criticism]. It’s Philly.”
Simmons’ confidence and his relationships with the Sixers were deteriorated. Embiid and Simmons are the only two players from “The Process” period, but it has been anything but that for the past years.
Depending on who was in charge, they fell in and out of favor. Former president of basketball operations Sam Hinkie and Embiid were close on and off the court. Bryan Colangelo, who led the team’s front office from 2016 to 2018, preferred Simmons. Former head coach Brett Brown and general manager Elton Brand tried to help Embiid and Simmons coexist. Morey and Rivers were hoping for a different voice and approach would unlock their potential.
Not only were the Sixers hoping that Simmons would be more aggressive on shooting, but Rivers was defending Simmons in news conference to boost the confidence of his players, something he did that led to the successes of players like Rajon Rondo and DeAndre Jordan. But none of it worked.
And as much as Morey believed in the pairing, one of the first things he did was to look for a trade for James Harden, who was disgruntled given the situation at that time in Houston. Simmons didn’t initially like the idea of being traded to the Rockets, but didn’t rule that out. He imagined what it would feel like to run his own team, built around him and his playing style.
When the news got to them that Harden was instead traded to the Brooklyn Nets, Simmons was unfazed—he made the All-Star team, but he grew uncomfortable in the organization. “It was too far gone before Doc even got there,” said a source close to Simmons. “They were trading the kid even before Doc even had a chance to coach him.”
Even if the Sixers try and get solid value out of a Simmons trade, it would be lose-lose because his value is lower than ever after his outing in the second round of the playoffs. And because of Rivers’ comments, it felt as if Simmons is no longer open to working with Rivers.
Even if Embiid made a public plea for Simmons to return, but expressed disappointment in the situation, even citing Simmons as the reason why the team signed Al Horford and got rid of Jimmy Butler. Embiid called the situation “weird, disappointing, borderline kind of disrespectful to all the guys that are out here fighting for their lives.”
Then in April, his older sister, Olivia, posted a series of tweets accusing Ben’s brother, Sean Tribe, of molesting her as a child. Tribe released a statement on Instagram strongly denying the allegations and filed a defamation lawsuit against Olivia. An Australian court awarded Tribe $550k in damages after Olivia Simmons failed to appear in court or provide evidence to support her allegations.
Ben Simmons never commented publicly on this situation, but he was close to his sister, and also close to Tribe, who lived with him earlier in his career and has become his manager. Everyone understood what he dealt with, and the organization decided to give him space. His only message to the team was that he appreciated his teammates’ support and preferred that none of them comment on this publicly. It weighed on him deeply.
The Sixers have given Simmons the tools that handle triggering moments that strike confidence and the mechanical adjustments to his game.
He previously worked with shooting coach John Townsend in his first three years in the NBA, both in Philadelphia and in offseason workouts in Australia. They hired Damian Lillard’s shooting coach, Phil Beckner, to work with him this season. They had a leading sports psychologist available for consultation.
In Simmons’ rookie season, he took 230 shots of 10 feet or farther from the basket and got better with his free throw shooting in the 2018 season under Townsend, improving to 70.7% in the playoffs after hitting 56% in the regular season. It was something to build on, and the Sixers wanted Simmons to continue working with Townsend during the 2018 offseason and into the 2019 season.
Instead, Simmons worked with his brother, Liam Tribe, which caused disappointment inside the Sixers organization. Last season, he took just 55 shots beyond 10 feet, shooting 61.3% from the free throw line and 34.2% in the playoffs.
In the last two offseasons, Simmons worked with Chris Johnson, a well-known NBA trainer who worked with 40 NBA players in his career, including LeBron James, Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, and Jimmy Butler.
This is nothing new for NBA stars, but the lack of connectedness fueled the organization’s disappointment when Simmons’ issues got worse. Both sides are frustrated. Even Simmons’ strongest defenders can’t always defend him.
Kevin Goorjian, who coached Simmons at Box Hill Senior Secondary College in Melbourne, said that Simmons was gifted physically and with basketball intelligence. “As soon as you saw Ben, you knew it was something special—once in a lifetime. He could shoot the ball then, too. Fifteen, 17 feet, he’d knock those down. You had to guard him. For me, he didn’t go a whole game and not take a [three-pointer]. If [the opponent] didn’t respect it, he took it and he made his fair share.”
While Simmons was 6’ 6” as a 9th grader, he outgrew Australian basketball after 10th grade, wanting to play in the NBA, being the 1st overall pick, and to do that, he had to play in the United States, so he enrolled in Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida, one of the United States’ top prep programs in basketball. Montverde coach Kevin Boyle worked with many NBA players, including Joel Embiid and D’Angelo Russell.
Both Goorjian and Boyle said that they didn’t notice anything about Simmons’ free throws or outside shooting—he hit 68% from the line and took 15- to 17-footers when he was open. Other than a mechanical flaw with his shot, Boyle said that there was nothing that would block the way of Simmons’ shot and confidence.
“In high school, he dominated and people weren’t able to stop him,” explained Boyle. “In high school, you can drive, miss, usually get your rebound and put it back in. But at the next level, the advantage in strength, size, and speed is now reduced greatly.”
It would be a more accurate comparison if Ben Simmons was compared to Rajon Rondo in his draft profile. Instead, he was compared more often to Magic Johnson and LeBron James. Johnson and James faced similar challenges upon entering the league—Johnson shot 22.6% from deep in his rookie season, James shot 29%. Both players got past those challenges and evolved their games. Simmons did not.
Simmons came to LSU as the consensus no. 1 prospect in his draft class and was determined to make the best of it on his promise. People have different reactions to this rating. Some get confident and grow their games, while others get overconfident and think they have made it before they did. Simmons didn’t want to mess up, so he played to his strengths—passing ability, vision, speed, size, strength, and did everything he could to not expose his lack of confidence in his shot.
During his 4th game with LSU, he had 21 points, 20 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, with a game-high 14 shots, where he made 6, and a game-high 11 free throws, where he made 9. But at the end of the game, when he was expected to take over the game, he passed twice.
One NBA scout who watched Simmons warm up before that game at Barclays Center was that Simmons didn’t lack aggressiveness. He lacked confidence in his shot. This was something that scouts commonly noted when Simmons played with LSU. An NBA GM who scouted him said he wanted to practice to see Simmons and never saw him take a shot.
When Simmons’ agent, Rich Paul, organized the meeting between the Sixers and Simmons in August, the Sixers prepared like they were pitching a superstar free agent, not the disgruntled player who was with the team for the past five seasons. The meeting took place at Paul’s house.
In the meeting, Daryl Morey went first, showing a detailed statistical case on how good Embiid and Simmons were on the defensive side. The two were the top defensive duo in the league, and argued that they weren’t as bad together offensively as Simmons might feel.
Their combined offensive efficiency of 118.2 points per 100 possessions, as Morey said, would have led the NBA among all teams. Rivers also pointed towards Simmons’ professionalism and competitiveness, noting Simmons’ five-year, $170M extension that the two sides agreed to two years ago.
The bottom line is that no matter how disastrous Simmons’ playoff outing was, the Sixers wanted him back. They see him as a key piece to the team under the belief that they could help him through shooting and confidence woes that have been derailing his career.
But when Simmons spoke, he was focused on something different. He didn’t settle into Rivers’ and Ebmiid’s quotes after the Game 7 loss. He didn’t say he was betrayed by the Sixers including him in the James Harden trade talks.
In his first three years in the league, the Sixers had a bright spotlight on them and a lot of success, but Simmons didn’t feel like he could make the mistakes other top picks were afforded. His struggles became too public, and he said he wanted to start over, in a city where he “could make mistakes.”
Simmons and those close to him believed that the Sixers wanted to protect him by doing things like inbounding the ball at the end of the game instead of putting him in a position where a team might foul him, or by challenging him to shoot more behind closed doors, rather than through the media. Simmons said at the meeting, “I appreciate you guys coming out here. I understand how you feel. But I feel how I feel. And it’s just time for a change.”
The point was made: Simmons told team owner Josh Harris that it wasn’t Simmons’ responsibility to increase his trade value, and that the Sixers find the best trade and execute it now, instead of waiting for a strong start to the season to increase his value.
In a surprise, he returned to Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, much to the surprise of the organization that expected him later in the week. Simmons entered the arena to take a COVID test and start the process of returning to the very franchise he requested a trade from.
They did not pay him the $8.25M, 25% of his contract, that he was owed on October 1st into an escrow account. The Sixers said that they will deduct from the account any fines that Simmons accrues as the season goes on.
During the August meeting between the team and Simmons, the Sixers made Simmons aware that fining him for every game he misses is a possibility, and, at the time, he responded by saying that he understood that, and that it would not change his stance either on reporting to the team or rescinding his trade request.
When Morey was asked about the possibility of withholding this money from Simmons, who already received another $8.25M on August 2nd, as his contract states he will get two 25% chunks of his contract before the season begins, Morey refused to say what exactly will happen but leaves the possibility open.
Morey tried to compare this situation between the offseason between Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, only for Rodgers to return, and, the night before the news conference, led the Packers to a last-second win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Simmons’ holdout was in the hopes of him forcing a trade, and perhaps could become the answer to boosting his value in the marketplace. Under the terms of the NBA’s CBA, Simmons lost about $360k for the two preseason games he missed.
The Sixers have fined Simmons for missed practices, too: $2,500 for the first, $5,000 for the second, $7,500 for the third and for every practice after, being left to the discretion of the team, which can go up to $50,000.
The reason he returned is that he described it as wanting to prove a point, and knowing he did so with something usually never seen in the NBA: Sitting out of training camp, costing himself nearly $1M in lost salary and fines.
When he requested a trade, the Sixers scouted all over the league, but no kind of deal that returned them the kind of elite player in exchange for Simmons. However, the trade market can shift quickly as the regular season goes on, and more players become eligible to be moved on December 15th, but the Sixers don’t have traction on a trade.
It’s expected that there will be conversations on how much of the money could be returned to Simmons should he make his Sixers debut.
Him meeting with the front office and Rivers will be the pinpoint for the organization to discover whether or not there will be an opening to convince Simmons that a reconciliation is possible, or if his return is what is needed to get a trade going that the Sixers want to remain contenders around Embiid.
This is not the first time where a player under contract refused to report to training camp.
Jimmy Butler was dissatisfied that the Minnesota Timberwolves did not renegotiate his contract in the offseason and believed that the roster was not trying to win games, so he implored the Timberwolves to trade him. That situation was different because the Timberwolves gave him permission to miss media day and the early portion of training camp when he rehabbed his right knee. When he returned to practice, he challenged teammates, coaches, and front office executives. The Timberwolves team that made the playoffs in 2018 started the 2019 season 3-7 before Butler got traded to the Sixers, where he helped Embiid and Simmons reach the second round before losing in the second round to the eventual champion Toronto Raptors.
James Harden is another example, as he asked for a trade last offseason and missed the first week of training camp after failing to meet the NBA’s COVID protocols. He eventually practiced on December 14th but was ruled unavailable after he was spotted at an indoor party without a mask, a violation of the league’s health and safety protocols and was fined $50k. The Rockets started 3-6 before Harden was traded to the Nets mid-January.
But unlike Minnesota and Houston, where Butler and Harden were the teams’ top players, Simmons is not.
On October 11th, Simmons’s agent, Rich Paul, called and texted GM Elton Brand, that Simmons ended his two-week, unpaid staycation at Los Angeles and was outside the Sixers team facility for a COVID test. No questions asked, the Sixers had to hastily get the testers to come back to the facility. Simmons didn’t give answers, either. By that point, the Sixers and many NBA fans were wondering if he was truly back or if he was just reporting to make up for his financial losses.
Simmons later passed his physical and held a meeting with the Sixers’ front office on October 13th, but was ineligible to participate in team-related activities until the 15th of the month. In his first conversation with the team since August, where he met with Daryl Morey, the Sixers’ president of basketball operations, and Brand, sources described the meeting as “brief.”
Fast forward to today, and Simmons told the team that he is not mentally ready to play to his expectations and needed time to step away, meeting separately with Rivers, medical staff and teammates at the team’s facility in Camden, New Jersey.
The Sixers know that he wants out and would be happy to fulfill his trade request, but also want fair value in return, and, at the moment, it’s not there, so they want him playing for them. After he told the team’s medical staff of his reasons for needing to seek help, the Sixers offered whatever resources necessary to assist him.
By now, the fines have totaled near $2M for the missed games, practices, and meetings, but there is a provision in the CBA protecting players’ salaries for failing to render services “if such failure has been caused by the player’s mental disability.”
Simmons was suspended by the team during the Sixers’ win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday, October 20th, after Rivers threw him out of practice the day before for failing to sub into a session. He lost approximately $227k for the suspension. The Sixers hoped they would see Simmons work out the next day and have him go through shootaround on Friday of that week, per sources.
Morey was interviewed on October 21st with 97.5 The Fanatic, reiterating that the Sixers would not be rushed into trading Simmons.
“People should buckle in. This is going to take a long time,” said Morey.
Reserve forward Georges Niang didn’t want to get to the specifics of what Simmons told the team ahead of the Sixers’ game against the Nets on October 22nd:
I think we left the meeting understanding what he had to say, and we came out and got ready for Brooklyn. The locker room is a sacred place and I don’t really feel comfortable sharing team business especially when it’s being addressed in the locker room. Obviously, Ben addressed us today, and you guys know that. I heard there’s a statement put out, but the locker room has always been a sacred place to me. What’s said and done in there, I don’t feel comfortable revealing and that’s how I’ve always been since Day 1.
Tobias Harris took to Twitter to support Simmons.
“And we’ll respect his privacy and space during this time. When he’s ready, we will embrace our brother with love and handle our business on the court. That’s it, that’s all,” tweeted Harris.
In a video shown on the big screen before the Sixers’ game against the Brooklyn Nets, Simmons was briefly shown four times, including throwing a pair of dunks. They avoided the potential awkwardness of having to address the situation before the game, and the potential boos that would’ve come upon announcing his name, by introducing only the starting five. Typically, before a team’s home opener, the entire roster is introduced.
After the video, Embiid addressed the crowd before tipoff and expressed his appreciation for the Sixers fans, who forced him to wait several seconds to begin speaking as they were chanting “MVP! MVP!”
“It’s good to have you back!” said Embiid. “On behalf of my teammates, the organization and myself, I just want to say thank you for your support for all these years. A lot has happened the last few months and I hope you guys continue to support us and our teammate Ben, because he’s still our brother. Let’s go!”
After three games, Simmons has still yet to suit up in a Sixers uniform, but there was another update. Daryl Morey met with Amy Fadool of NBC Sports Philadelphia to discuss about the Simmons situation, and Morey brought in some good news.
“Ben came in at the end of last week and said he had back stiffness and he’s dealing with some personal reasons off the court,” said Morey. “Both we take very seriously, we’re working with Ben to provide every resource to help him with what is needed. He spoke to his teammates, things seem to be moving very much in a positive direction. We’re going to provide all the resources, give Ben what he needs, and get him out there as soon as we can.”
Those who are cynical will be forgiven for dismissing any form of an “optimistic” update. There is still the possibility that the Sixers will wait until December 15th, when newly-signed players become trade-eligible. But the fact that he met with the team and suggested he is not yet mentally ready to play shows a change in tone from last offseason.
Had positive steps not been taken on bridging a gap that has been present all offseason long, Embiid and Harris would not be as vocally supportive as they would have.
“That’s the first step, that’s a step. Like I always say, that’s on the front office,” said Embiid regarding the situation. “Hopefully they figure out what’s best for the team, because this is a business. We’re trying to find ways to win. And for us, we have a big opportunity. And like I always say, we are better with him. I wouldn’t mind playing with him. I know my teammates also wouldn’t, because at the end of the day, we’re just trying to win.”
More good news is that the Sixers are no longer fining Simmons for missed games and practices as Simmons told the team that he was not mentally prepared to return. He was fined roughly $2M throughout his holdout, but the Sixers are offering whatever resources he needs to improve his mental health.
For now, the Sixers will aim to do everything they can when Simmons was not available. But for those thinking that Simmons played his last game with the team, it sounds more and more as if Morey would disagree with that. And he’s willing to go the full extent of the resources to help him and get back on the court.
Kyrie Irving
The situation regarding Kyrie Irving is that he is unvaccinated. New York City’s vaccine mandate says that Irving will not be eligible to play games at Barclays Center or at Madison Square Garden until he gets at least one COVID vaccination.
However, Nets GM Sean Marks says that Irving’s decision left the organization with “no choice” but to keep him off the team until he gets the vaccine. Marks released the following statement on October 12th:
Given the evolving nature of the situation and after through deliberation, we have decided Kyrie Irving will not play or practice with the team until he is eligible to be a full participant. Kyrie has made a personal choice, and we respect his individual right to choose. Currently the choice restricts his ability to be a full-time member with the team, and we will not permit any member of our team to participate with part-time availability. It is imperative that we continue to build chemistry as a team and remain true to our long-established values of togetherness and sacrifice. Our championship goals for the season have not changed, and to achieve these goals each member of our organization must pull in the same direction. We are excited for the start of the season and look forward to a successful campaign that will make the borough of Brooklyn proud.
Marks confirmed that Irving will only lose money for the games which he does not play in, roughly $380k per game. When asked if the two other Nets superstars, Kevin Durant and James Harden, were consulted on the decision, Marks says that “everyone” in the organization was aware of what was happening, but that he and owner Joe Tsai were the ones making the decision.
The right move, in their opinion, was to move forward from this situation, which has been around since the start of training camp, when Irving joined the team’s media day from his home because he could not attend it in person at Barclays Center.
Irving later spoke on his Instagram Live, saying that he is neither pro-vaccine nor anti-vaccine and that he fully understands the consequences of his decision:
The financial consequences, I know I do not want to even do that. But it is the reality that in order to be in New York City, in order to be on a team, I have to be vaccinated. I chose to be unvaccinated, and that was my choice, and I would ask you all to just respect that choice. I am going to just continue to stay in shape, be ready to play, be ready to rock out with my teammates and just be part of this whole thing. 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.
When Irving flew to San Diego for training camp and practiced with the Nets for a week, he wasn’t around the team the week before Marks’ statement before a change in the city’s ruling on the use of the practice facility because it is a “private workspace,” compared to a public one like Barclays Center.
After practice on Saturday and Sunday in Brooklyn with the team ahead of their preseason game against the 76ers, Irving didn’t make it to the preseason game.
“We’re just trying to navigate this thing,” said Nets head coach Steve Nash before the game, when asked on the situation regarding Irving. “We don’t really know what’s going to happen tomorrow. So I think really it’s... we’re just trying to take our time to figure out what everything means. New information seems to come in every week, and we’re just in that process of not only trying to navigate the information, the parameters, but also what’s coming down the line, how it looks and feels and what we can do to make this work and all those things. That’s all.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that he would have “preferred” that the NBA and the NBPA agree on a vaccine mandate as part of avoiding an “adversarial” issue for NBA players, as it has with this situation. Silver said during his annual preseason news conference, this time conducted virtually because of the pandemic:
I won’t try to speak for [the NBPA], other than the view that some players had, I think—including maybe some players who are vaccinated—that it should be an individual choice among the players. I would have preferred that ultimately that the players’ association agreed to mandatory vaccinations. The officials union agreed to mandatory vaccinations, despite opposition from some of their members. But ultimately, I think we could have avoided a lot of the adversarial nature of these issues for our players. It’s not so much with the league. I think that gets confused in some cases. … This is between Irving and New York City right now. This is not a league issue … but I think it would have been best for everyone if every player were vaccinated.
While Andrew Wiggins got vaccinated, which cleared him to play, and the Knicks are fully vaccinated, Irving is the only Nets player who has decided not to get the vaccine. If he decides not to get the vaccine throughout the season, it would be a decision that would end up costing him roughly $20M. Visiting players, however, are exempt from this mandate, which means that Irving would be unable to play as a result.
As of now, Silver has not heard a word about the possibility of New York City’s vaccine mandate being lifted anytime soon.
Silver was also asked if it is “fair” that Irving is unable to play while other unvaccinated players, including Bradley Beal, are able to play without issue. Silver said that the framing of the question was off:
I’m not sure if fair is the right way to approach it because there’s nothing fair about the virus. It’s indiscriminate in terms of who it impacts, and I think it’s perfectly appropriate that New York and other cities have passed laws that require people who both work and visit arenas to be vaccinated. That seems to be a responsible public health decision made by those locales, and those are the circumstances in which the Nets find themselves operating. I accept that. I think that we understand as a league we have to play the cards that are dealt, just as in the same way there are variations from market to market. I know there are players in some markets who would prefer that their local governments pass ordinances requiring that all the fans be vaccinated who are in the building with them. … We’ll see how it plays out. I mean, frankly, I hope that Kyrie sort of—despite how strongly he feels about the vaccination—ultimately decides to get vaccinated, because I’d love to see him play basketball this season, and I’d love to see the Brooklyn Nets have their full complement of players on the floor.
Fast forward to the Nets’ home opener against the Hornets; their biggest story wasn’t about the fact that they lost 111-95, or that no other player on the Nets scored double figures outside of Harden or Durant. The biggest story was what happened before the game: A group of protesters gathering outside Barclays Center trying to storm the entrance in support of Kyrie and his refusal to get the vaccine.
“Barclays Center briefly closed its doors today in order to clear protestors from the main doors on the plaza and ensure guests could safely enter the arena,” said a Barclays Center spokesperson in a statement on that Sunday. “Only ticketed guests were able to enter the building and the game proceeded according to schedule.”
The group of protesters were trying to force their way through the arena’s front door, while chanting “My body, my choice” and “Let Kyrie play.”
There was not a hint of protests 90 minutes before tip-off, as earlier, thousands of protesters walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. The speculation is that they made their point the day before while clashing with law enforcement, or that they stayed away because of a storm expected to dump inches of rain on New York City.
Whatever the reason is, nonetheless, several NYPD officers said, per a report from USA TODAY, that the protesters never came, but instead made their way to City Hall earlier in that day to oppose New York’s vaccination mandate stating that any worker wanting to continue working must show proof of vaccination by that week’s Friday at 5 PM.
Beal, who is not fully vaccinated either, also proclaimed that his reasons for not getting the vaccine are “personal.” However, the vaccine mandates do not apply to him, as they only apply to athletes of the teams in New York City. Similar mandates are also in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
With the Nets, while the starting lineup can be subject to change, head coach Steve Nash noted that his focus is on working with the current group.
The Nets started Irving, Harden, Joe Harris, Durant, and Blake Griffin in Game 1 of the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals, so Nash can stick with the latter four players and can throw in any other player in the starting lineup.
The Nets have used three different starting lineups so far this season, with Nic Claxton and Bruce Brown getting two starts each and Jevon Carter getting one start. Regardless of who starts for the Irving-less Nets, Harden is likely going to get the bulk of the ball-handling responsibilities.
But with the current situation, it’s also fair to ask if the Nets regret trading away Spencer Dinwiddie, even when Patty Mills is lighting it up. The answer? They’d be wanting Dinwiddie back if it weren’t for Mills.
Through five games, Mills averaged 12.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists while coming off the bench. He went 7-for-7 from beyond the arc in the Nets’ season-opener against the Bucks, plus 3-for-3 from beyond the arc against the 76ers. But against the Hornets, he went 1-for-6 in that category as he came back down to earth.
Before the start of the regular season, losing Dinwiddie looked as if the offseason was going to leave a hole behind. That’s not to say that the Nets couldn’t use his playmaking ability, but Mills proved he is up to the challenge of stepping up in Irving’s absence.
An Irving trade is unlikely, not only because the Nets want him to help them in getting their first championship, but also potential suitors won’t have guarantees on if Irving would stay beyond this season.
He has two years and roughly $71M left in his current contract, but has a player option for the 2023 season. Should the Nets trade Irving, he could play out the 2022 season and then choose another team in free agency. There is also “belief in some corners of the league” that Irving would seriously consider retirement should the Nets trade him, per Marc Stein.
The Nets are going to be forced to discuss possible trades should Irving remain unvaccinated deep into the season. As of now, it’s hard to imagine their Big Three being broken up.
But how did this happen in the first place? During the Nets’ media day last month, Irving refused to disclose his vaccination status, saying he would “like to keep all that private.” Earlier in October, he was still not disclosing his vaccination status, but tweeted, “I am protected by God and so are my people. We stand together.”
Later, in an attempt to clarify his position, sources “with knowledge of Kyrie’s mindset” told Shams Charania of The Athletic that Irving is “not anti-vaccine and that his stance is that he is upset that people are losing their jobs due to vaccine mandates. ... To him this is about a grander fight than the one on the court and Irving is challenging a perceived control of society and peoples’ livelihoods.”
That makes zero sense. And because he is saying through that statement that he does not want to get vaccinated, and because of the New York City ban on unvaccinated people entering gyms, he would not play in any of the Nets home games plus their two “road” games at Madison Square Garden.
Marks later said that Irving would not play or practice with the team until he gets vaccinated, noting that Irving made a “personal choice ... that restricts his ability to be a full-time member with the team.”
Irving has his right to choose not to be vaccinated, despite the vaccines being overwhelmingly successful in preventing hospitalizations and COVID deaths, and a fully-vaccinated society is our only real chance to get back to normal in the country.
But given what is known about how dangerous COVID is and the serious threat that unvaccinated people pose to themselves and others, the Nets, and society, have the right to say you can’t do what they are doing. Actions have consequences. While one can do what they want with their body, they have to accept that their choice will negatively affect other aspects of their life.
In this pandemic, we learned that people are connected—when one makes a bad choice, this is not just a bad choice. It’s a bad choice that leads to similar bad consequences for people trying to do what’s right. Now that Irving made his choice, he has to live with the consequences.
And even if he has to live with the consequences of not playing a game for the Nets until he gets vaccinated, he also says that he has no intentions to retire.
Even without Irving, the Nets still believe they are a championship contender with Kevin Durant and James Harden, and can ultimately make hard decisions regarding Irving’s future should he remain unvaccinated.
In the wake of this, Charles Barkley said live during an NBA on TNT broadcast with a perfect response to those claiming that the vaccine is a personal choice, stating the purpose of the vaccination. “First of all, you don’t get the vaccine for yourself, you get it for other people.”
Barkley said that he got the vaccine. He also added at that time that he “can’t wait to get the booster.”
He continued by mentioning Adam Silver: “You don’t get vaccinated just for yourself. Like Adam [Silver] said, you get vaccinated for your family first, you get vaccinated for your teammates second.”
Barkley also dismissed all comparisons between Irving and the late boxing legend Muhammad Ali. “People say he’s like Ali. Don’t compare anyone to Ali.”
Remember: Just because someone refuses to do something, that doesn’t mean that person is like Ali. Ali refused to participate in the Vietnam War to fight racism.
This came after fellow TNT analyst and former NBA player Kenny Smith showed empathy for Irving. Irving said on his Instagram Live, “I am doing what’s best for me.” and “It’s just about the freedom of what I want to do.”
Yes, nobody is forcing Irving to get vaccinated. No one is cornering Irving to get vaccinated. No one is concerning him at home and forcing the vaccine on him. But he’s getting the consequences to do with his decision. People wouldn’t want to be around someone who remains unvaccinated and may be at a higher risk for carrying the virus.
Barkley is not the only current or former NBA player supporting the vaccine. 97% of current players have already been vaccinated. On average, no more than one player per team is unvaccinated.
In an episode of the Today Show, Michael Jordan was asked about if he was concerned about the COVID protocols, to where he quickly responded, “Not at all.”
He added, “I am total in unison with the league. And I think everybody, you know, has been speaking about the vaccinations. And, you know, I’m a firm believer in science and, you know, I’m going to stick with that and hopefully everybody abides by whatever the league sets the rules. I think once everybody buys in, we’re going to be fine.”
People should know that public health measures, such as vaccination, as team efforts instead of individual efforts. When one says “my body, my choice” when it comes to the vaccine, that’s the same as someone on a basketball team saying “my ball, my choice.” What that person does affects everyone else. When one gets too selfish, they face the consequences of getting benched.
Similarly, protection against COVID depends not only if one is vaccinated, but also on what percentage of people around them are vaccinated. Even if Irving is unvaccinated, he should not represent what most NBA players feel and believe.
Barkley is known for speaking things to mind, and this is another example of it. If one refuses to get the COVID vaccination, it is not a personal decision. They are making a decision for everyone around them.
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