Kyrie Irving is considered the most skilled player in the history of the NBA. That is not just a fan opinion but the opinion of greats like Isiah Thomas who were known for their great handles have said that his skill is unmatched. Despite being a great talent, Kyrie has been an eccentric off the field. He has publicly said he thinks the Earth is flat. But when that eccentricity interferes with basketball, that’s when it becomes a problem.
After being out of the game for more than 10 months due to injury, Kyrie took a break from the game after just 2 weeks. His reason for the break was the capitol hill riots that took place in Washington D C. Kyrie has do e this multiple times and still collected the millions of dollars stipulated in his contract despite sitting out games for no valid reason. He has received a lot of criticism for taking stands on social issues and using them as an excuse to skip games. Everyone has issues that upset them but that is no excuse to skip work.
Kyrie’s latest stunt is his stand on the vaccine mandates. The champion and 7-time All-star refused to take the vaccine because he wanted to stand in solidarity with the people that were being let go from their jobs. After all, they refused to take the vaccine. The only difference is while those people lost their jobs and livelihood, Irving is still earning millions of dollars despite not playing games.
Since it has been mandated in New York that unvaccinated players cannot play home games. While the rule does not make sense unvaccinated players from other teams can play but home team players cannot) it does prevent Kyrie from playing half the games the team plays. The Nets first put out a statement saying they would not let Kyrie play part-time but after Kevin Durant got injured the team has employed a part-time Kyrie. The consequence was a frustrated James Harden that wanted to be traded.
Eventually, the Nets traded James harden and Paul Millsap to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and 2 first-round picks. While the Nets didn’t lose out on the trade they were forced to give up on James Harden because Kyrie Irving was selfish and unwilling to sacrifice for his team. Now that the damage has been done, the only way Kyrie can redeem himself is to help Brooklyn win a championship. If he doesn’t, he is going to tarnish his legacy and go down as one of the most selfish superstars the league has ever seen.