The Brooklyn Nets might’ve just completed a Hail Mary in their quest to bring Kyrie Irving back to the court in the form of a…democratically-elected Democratic mayor switch. How’s that for intrigue?
Assuming Irving wants back into the NBA to compete with his brothers Kevin Durant and James Harden, ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski posited on Wednesday that there’s at least a chance of new NYC Mayor Eric Adams revisiting and altering the city’s current vaccination mandates when he takes office on Jan. 1.
Not certain if this is politically savvy considering the proclivities of many New Yorkers and the fact that we should all be prioritizing public safety over who’s playing point guard for the Brooklyn Nets, but…it does seem a bit funky and inconsistent that a proudly unvaccinated Bradley Beal is allowed to play games at the Barclays Center because he’s not on the roster of the home team.
Hey, maybe that’s the half-measure Adams ends up clarifying!
NY Post story on New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams planning to "revisit" the city's Covid-19 vaccine mandates upon taking office on January 1. Nets star Kyrie Irving remains unvaccinated and sidelined because of his decision to not fulfill the mandate. https://t.co/DF58E0qwb9
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 3, 2021
New NYC Mayor Eric Adams might help the Brooklyn Nets get Kyrie Irving back.
According to the New York Post, Adams doesn’t seem ready to tear down the entire foundation, but might mess with the façade and clean up the inconsistencies that are benching Irving while letting Beal thrive:
"During a series of media appearances the day after he handily beat Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa, the Democrat also repeatedly promised he wouldn’t step on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s toes regarding the controversial jab order.“We need to revisit how we are going to address the vaccine mandates. Now, I stated I did not want to Monday-morning-quarterback the mayor. This is his time to be the man, he has to make the decisions,” Adams said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”The former NYPD captain again deferred to the current mayor on the mandate, while urging him to meet with union leaders over it."
Now, again, this would be two months down the line and might not end up being the driving force behind an Irving return that still feels farther away than ever (OK, Morpheus), but it’s interesting to consider there might be alterations under a new regime.
Of course, the original policy got 92 percent of city government employees to take at least one dose of the required and extremely safe vaccine, so might be better to simply not mess with success and keep pushing.
Brooklyn Nets’ homage to New Jersey official with City Edition announcement
The Brooklyn Nets honored the forerunners that came before them in their New Jersey days with this new City Edition uniform.