I do not care what your world view is on the Covid Vaccine. Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving is not a Vaccine Martyr. Irving says he won't play basketball if he has to get the Covid Vaccine? This is, what, like, the 8th time he has threatened not to play basketball?
In 2010, Kyrie Irving was injured during the 8th game of his Freshman Season at Duke. He did not play through his injury, he missed 3 months and waited until his toe was completely healed before returning to the court. He did not want to risk falling in the 2011 draft due to a nagging injury. His college career was 11 total games.
In 2017, Kyrie Irving forced a trade from Cleveland to Boston. If Cleveland didn't trade Irving, he wasn't going to play basketball.
In 2018, from Sports Illustrated: "Celtics fans should appreciate Kyrie Irving while they can." Irving was already talking about when he wanted to retire. He was 26 at the time.
In 2019, Kyrie Irving said if there wasn't social justice, he wasn't going to play basketball.
In 2020, Kyrie Irving was injured, but he went on to say that if it meant playing in the NBA Bubble, he wasn't going to play basketball.
In 2020, 6 months after shoulder surgery, the Nets and Kyrie Irving agreed he needed more time to recover and he wasn't going to play basetball in the 2020 playoffs. (Average shoulder surgery recovery? Anywhere between 6 weeks to 6 months for the average person.)
In 2021, Over a 2 year span, Kyrie Irving had coincidentally missed multiple games against his former team, the Boston Celtics. When he finally went back to Boston, he hoped the Boston fans wouldn't be racist, or else he wasn't going to play basketball.
In 2021, Kyrie Irving said he didn't believe in the Covid Vaccine. If the NBA made him get the Covid shot, he wasn't going to play basketball.
In 2021, Kyrie Irving said if he is traded from the Brooklyn Nets, he was going to retire from basketball (and he wasn't going to play basketball ever again).
If you're yelling at your computer screen "he shouldn't have to get the mandated Covid vaccine," I am simply countering that Kyrie Irving has lost the benefit of the doubt as for reasons to not play basketball.
There is a clear pattern of behavior from Irving's last year in Cleveland to today. What's been hard for me to do is strip the emotion out of this topic. If you asked me, at the age of 25, if I would sign a contract for $100,000,000 to play soccer, I wouldn't blink.
I wouldn't care what country I played soccer in.
I wouldn't care who my teammates were.
I wouldn't care where we played. I wouldn't care who the President/Ruler was.
I wouldn't care what company was sponsoring my team.
I wouldn't care how many vaccines I would have to take......
And if I had $100,000,000 in the bank and one of the criteria above really rubbed me the wrong way, I WOULD PLAY SOCCER SOMEWHERE ELSE. There's, what, 50 top level soccer leagues in the world? If Irving really hates the NBA and thinks their policies violate his rights, he can play in one of the dozens of basketball leagues in the old country or, in Australia, where he was born and where his Dad played basketball. Now would be the PERFECT time for Irving to go through with his threat to start his own league.
Or, from yet another angle, there's a department at my job where no one makes over $50,000 a year (except the head manager.) Most of the employees hate it there and call off of work at the drop of a hat. Despite having 3 months off a year, (like NBA players), for the past 5 years, at any given time, 5-10% of the department has been on leave of absence. Probably 20% of the department has threatened to quit if they have to get the Covid Vaccine.
Kyrie Irving doesn't treat the NBA like an employer that made him filthy rich, or made his sports dreams comes true, he treats the NBA just like any other shitty job that you can't wait to quit.
The difference between Kyrie vs you and me is that Kyrie has options. You or I may not have the capability to make mid-life career changes. You or I may have other medical issues. Kyrie is the head of the Kyrie Irving Incorporated Brand.