By refusing to let Kyrie Irving be a part-time player, Nets face reality with unvaccinated star

Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks has done what's best for the team. What happens next is up to Irving

NEW YORK -- Minutes before Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash's media availability was scheduled to start, Barclays Center was abuzz. "You saw Shams' tweet, right?" one reporter called out to another as they walked toward the press conference room. Shams Charania's tweet revealed that New York City had reclassified the team's training facility as a private office building, so Kyrie Irving could remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 and practice there. 

This was good news, Nash told reporters ostensibly in attendance to cover Brooklyn's preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the first one Irving would miss because he has refused to get vaccinated. Nash said he didn't know what else to say, since it was a new development in an unprecedented situation, and the rules could change again. 

Nash, along with Irving's teammates, have been doing a ridiculous dance. They've long known that Irving isn't vaccinated, and they've known that this makes him ineligible to play at Barclays Center (or Madison Square Garden), but they've steadfastly avoided criticizing him or acknowledging that he is harming the team.