The vaccination requirement for professional athletes in New York City fell on Thursday. Basketball star Kyrie Irving can play for the Brookyln Nets for the first time this season on Sunday. As an opponent of vaccination, the 2016 NBA champion has so far dispensed with the corona injection.
Mayor Eric Adams overturned the rule on Thursday afternoon (local time). “It’s about giving New York athletes a level playing field,” Adams said. This will also allow the unvaccinated players in the New York Yankees and New York Mets to play at home in the postponed Major League Baseball (MLB) opener in April.
The Nets can use Irving well, the team in the east is currently only eighth, direct qualification for the play-off round of 16 is in danger. The 30-year-old, who has only been able to play away from home, has an average of 27.7 points this season.
Irving was missing from the club’s squad at the beginning of the season because of his refusal to get the corona vaccination. The Nets later brought him back as a “part-time employee” and he made his debut in early January.
Most recently, Brooklyn was fined $50,000 for being in the dressing room at the home game against the New York Knicks. As a spectator, he was allowed to sit in the front row (without a mask), but not play.