Kyrie Irving Reminds NBA What He’s Capable Of…and What Nets Only Have Part Time | Bleacher Report

AP Foto/Phelan M. Ebenhack

If Sunday afternoon was the first salvo in the latest round of coordinated messaging targeted at New York City mayor Eric Adams, Tuesday evening was the hammer coming on the back end in the continued push for Kyrie Irving to be allowed to play in home games for the Brooklyn Nets.

Over the past 72 hours, the game plan was executed to perfection.

Phase one: Have Irving show up shortly into Sunday’s game against the Knicks—an ABC matinee with tons of eyeballs—to sit courtside as a spectator for a game he can’t play in, to highlight the inconsistencies of the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Phase two: Irving drops a career-high 60 points against a hapless and overmatched Orlando Magic team in the first of just three games he can play in for the rest of Brooklyn’s home-heavy schedule this season.

In between, and no doubt going forward until the situation changes, lots of interminable discourse about the whole thing.

After the Sunday spectacle, the topic of conversation was the utility of a mandate that lets unvaccinated players like Irving sit courtside, unmasked, inside a sold-out arena but not participate in the game he was there to watch. Kevin Durant called Adams out by name afterward, and then walked it back a day later when the NBA fined the Nets $50,000 for letting Irving be with the team in the locker room at halftime. No less an NBA power broker than LeBron James weighed in on his former Cavs co-star’s behalf.

Tuesday, it was all about the special talent Irving is on the rare occasions when he does take the court. As he was eviscerating the Magic, a team tied for the worst record in the NBA, it became one of those moments the basketball internet takes in together in awe.

Steve Nash, Irving’s coach, a two-time league MVP and Hall of Fame point guard, said afterward that he had “my career highlight reel in the first 12 minutes of the game.” Knicks forward Evan Fournier, who went unfortunately viral himself during Sunday’s game, called Irving “the most skilled player ever.” Here, again, James joined in the chorus of folks marveling at Irving’s shot-making wizardry.

For the rest of the season, or until Irving gets vaccinated or the mayor lifts the mandate, the conversation around Irving is going to bounce between these two themes. One day, it will be a debate about public health policy; the next, highlights captioned with the steam-coming-out-of-nose emoji.

What Irving did Tuesday was the latest reminder of how good he and Durant can be, and how easily they could run through the Eastern Conference if the two of them playing together was an everyday reality. What happened on Sunday was a reminder that as long as Irving remains unvaccinated, and the current rules remain in place, the best-case juggernaut version of the Nets is more an idea than a real-world being.

AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack

Every defense of Irving, from Durant to Ted Cruz to the bots populating the #FreeKyrie hashtag, is based around the notion that getting vaccinated (or not) is a personal choice, which it is. But making the personal choice not to get vaccinated means surrendering control of the situation.

Now, Irving is at the mercy of city mandates that may or may not be consistent, may or may not make sense, and may or may not still be in place when the playoffs come around. All of that is out of his control, and he has no recourse other than making a spectacle out of the entire situation and hoping the mayor of the biggest city in the country caves to an apparent PR campaign on behalf of one professional basketball player.

Irving joked on Tuesday night that he might come to the Nets’ next home game, on Wednesday against the Dallas Mavericks, wearing a media pass. For the record: media members are required by the NBA to show proof of vaccination in order to attend games, as are coaches, referees, front-office executives, arena employees and everyone else working at a game who isn’t a player.

That would be one way for him to change the reality of the situation he and the Nets are in.

But he’s made it clear that’s the one thing completely off the table.

Sean Highkin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and lives in Portland. His work has been honored by the Pro Basketball Writers’ Association. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and in the B/R App.