Report: Kyrie Irving To Make Season Debut Wednesday Against Indiana Pacers

Brooklyn Nets star point guard Kyrie Irving has been missing from the NBA for the entirety of the 2021 NBA regular season, sidelined by his team due to remaining unvaccinated in a city which requires him to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to play in his home arena. 

Irving’s absence ends Wednesday, according to NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic. 

“Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving is expected to make his season debut Wednesday on the road against the Indiana Pacers, sources tell [The Athletic] [Stadium],” Charania posted to Twitter Monday morning. “After missing the Nets’ first 35 games of the season, Irving has targeted Wednesday for his return.”

Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving is expected to make his season debut Wednesday on the road against the Indiana Pacers, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. After missing the Nets’ first 35 games of the season, Irving has targeted Wednesday for his return.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 3, 2022

It’s a quick turnaround for Irving, who attended his first practice last Wednesday since the organization shelved him in October. 

New York City requires players to be vaccinated in order to play in “certain covered premises,” including Barclays Center, home of the Nets. 

In mid-October, Nets general manager Sean Marks announced that Irving would not be part of the organization “until he is eligible to be a full participant.” At the time, Marks would not allow Irving to play in just Brooklyn’s road games, which would have made him  a “part-time player.” That thinking changed in the middle of December when the Nets were hit particularly hard by COVID-19, forcing Marks and the Nets to do an about face regarding Irving’s position on the team, allowing him to return to the team as a “part-time” player for Brooklyn’s remaining road games.

Following his first practice since the preseason, Irving told reporters he understood the initial decision by the team, saying that while he was aware of the consequences that came with remaining unvaccinated as a member of the Brooklyn Nets, he was not prepared for the real life ramifications of his decision.

“I understood their decision, and I respected it and tried not to become too emotionally attached to what they were deciding to do,” Irving said according to Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. “I had to sit down and really evaluate things and see it from their perspective, meaning the organization and my teammates. I just really empathized and understood their choice to say, ‘If you’re not going to be vaccinated, fully vaccinated, then you can’t be a full participant.’ I knew the consequences. I wasn’t prepared for them by no stretch of the imagination. Coming into the season, I had my thought process on being able to be a full-time teammate and just go out and have fun and provide a great brand of basketball out there. But unfortunately, it didn’t happen like that.”

Head coach Steve Nash told reporters that Irving’s debut would depend on his level of conditioning. 

“How does he recover from today?” Nash said. “How many high-intensity (practices) does he need to feel comfortable, confident from a personal standpoint — for Kyrie, for the performance team and all those different measures? It’s still a shifting landscape.”

The Nets have 24 road games remaining on their regular season schedule, but two of those games will be played against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden where Irving is not eligible to play, and one will be in Toronto when Brooklyn travels to play the Raptors on January 26. All NBA players must be vaccinated in order to travel to Canada beginning January 15.

The Nets currently sit in second place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 23-11.

Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].

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