Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving has hit some of the biggest shots in NBA history, like his step-back 3 pointer that led to a 2016 NBA championship. He may be most famous for the shot he never took.
Irving told the media that his decision not to get vaccine against COVID 19 vaccine last year cost him time and millions of dollars.
Irving said that he gave up four years, $100 million and decided to be unvaccinated. Get this contract, get unvaccinated, or get vaccinated, and there is an uncertainty about your future, whether or not you are going to be on this team. I had to deal with the real-life circumstance of losing my job for this decision. As part of the league s Pandemic safety measures, the NBA players were not required to get vaccinated by the league, but they had to undergo stricter COVID protocols last season. In New York City, where the Nets play, there was a vaccine mandate for businesses last season that kept Irving from playing in home games. He missed dozens of games as a result, and participated in just 29 of the 82 games for the Nets last season.
The Nets were going to give Kyrie a new contract last year, but Irving said that if he was vaccinated against COVID and could play in home games, the contract would have only been officially offered to him. Irving never got the vaccine, he said, and they never agreed to a new contract.
I didn't appreciate how I was unvaccinated all of a sudden came to be a stigma within my career that I don't want to play, or that I m willing to give up everything to be a voice for the voiceless, Irving continued.
The team's general manager, Sean Marks, denied Irving's claim that there was a formal ultimatum about Irving getting vaccinated, which stalled the contract negotiations.
There is no ultimatum being given here, Marks said. It goes back to the fact that you want people who are reliable, accountable, and who are here and accountable. All of us: staff, players, coaches, you name it. It is not giving anybody an ultimatum to get a vaccine. If he wants to make that choice, I think he has made it. That is completely his prerogative. According to Bobby Marks of ESPN, Irving was eligible for a five-year $246 million contract with the Nets last year, but the sides never agreed on a deal. Irving has a one-year remaining on his contract, which is worth about 36 million dollars.
Irving says that his decision to not get vaccinated has not only cost him millions in a new contract with the Nets that never materialized, but he also lost money on his current deal. In the last season, when Irving was sitting out games that he could not participate in because of New York City's vaccine mandate, he was fined as much as $15 million by the Nets.
Kyrie Irving's career earnings will still exceed $230 million by the end of the 2022 -- 23 NBA season. Irving has sponsorship deals with Nike NKE, 2 K Sports, and Pepsi PEP, New York City has since ended its vaccine mandate, allowing Irving to play in Nets home games this season.