Source: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty
NBA star Kyrie Irving made his return to Brooklyn and took a shot at New York City Mayor Eric Adams in the process.
On Tuesday night (Feb. 6), the Dallas Mavericks went up against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center with Kyrie Irving playing there for the first time since his acrimonious split with the team last season. During a 36-point performance, Irving was near the sideline when a fan known as Courtside Nets on X, formerly Twitter, asked the guard why he didn’t exhibit that while with the Nets. “Thank Mayor Adams for that, bro,” Irving replied.
The jab (no pun intended) was related to the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate enacted by Mayor Adams. Irving opted not to get vaccinated, and so the policy kept him from playing in the Nets’ home games during the majority of the 2021-2022 season. The team also sat him for most of its road games during the first two months of that season. The guard would appear in the Nets’ 75th game of the season after Mayor Adams created an exemption from the mandate for athletes. In total, Irving only played 29 games, costing him millions.
The Mavericks would go on to win the game 119-107, with Irving getting some boos from the crowd. Afterward, he reflected on his time with the team, which ended last February when they granted his request to be traded to Dallas. In his three and a half years with the team, the assembled “super team” of Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden only once won a playoff series playing together.
“Obviously, I fell short in terms of the championship aspirations but, for me, I think it was bigger than a championship here,” Irving said, according to the Daily News. “I had to really take some moral stances that propelled me into a place in my life that I had to become accustomed to. There were some political things that were going on here as well that I couldn’t control, that I was responsible for. There were some things that I did on my own accord that I look back on, and they were mistakes, and I have to be accountable for those things. I’m not perfect, but one thing I can say is I’ve been able to learn from things.”