Kyrie Irving has yet to play a game for the Nets this season due to his refusal to cooperate with New York City’s vaccine mandates, but it doesn’t mean the organization has cut off all communication with him.
Nets head coach Steve Nash recently revealed that the two keep in touch, but another teammate makes it a point to reach out to him as well.
“At this point, I send certain messages because I know his phone’s getting blown up at this time,” DeAndre’ Bembry said (h/t Brian Lewis of the New York Post). “So I try to give him his space, because I know he’s just one of those people that needs his space sometimes to collect his thoughts and his energy and stuff. So for the most part, I definitely sent him a couple messages over this time to just check up on him, make sure he’s good.
I know he’s good, I know he’ll figure this out and get through it. But for the most part, like I said, I try to give him his space, because I know I know how this could be. I know a lot of his family’s calling him, friends, fans and all type of people, so try to give them a little bit of space with all of this that’s going on.”
With the emergence of the Omicron variant, it doesn’t seem likely that mandates will be lifted in New York City any time soon, so the only realistic path for Irving to return to the Nets at this point in time is if he receives the COVID-19 vaccine.
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