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Kyrie Irving wants to put last season behind him. He was limited to playing just 29 regular season games for the Brooklyn Nets. The seven-time All-Star also had to deal with the embarrassment of getting swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
Although Irving exercised his player option with the Nets this season, he confirmed that he was approached by other teams in the offseason. The thought of leaving had crossed his mind.
Speaking at the Brooklyn Nets' media day, Irving discussed whether he was close to leaving the organization.
""Yeah. Yeah. There were options, but not many. I'll tell you that because this stigma -- whether or not I wanna play, whether or not I am gonna be committed to the team -- I thought was really unfair at times."
The stigma Kyrie Irving is referring to is about his decision to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19. Irving elaborated on the stigma around his unvaccinated status in the press conference.
"I didn't appreciate how me being unvaccinated all of a sudden came to be a stigma within my career. That I don't want to play, that I'm willing to give up everything to be a voice for the voiceless. I will stand on here and say that, that wasn't the only intent that I had."
He added:
"It was to stand on something that was going to be bigger than myself and that I was going to understand probably far into the future. I don't know when."
Irving went on to say that he felt like he was forced to make a choice:
"I felt like I was forced with an ultimatum of whether I was going to get a contract or not, whether I was going to be with the team, and whether I was going to be vaccinated."
Kyrie Irving has consistenly maintained that decision to remain unvaccinated is for the larger cause
Kyrie Irving's remarks at the Brooklyn Nets' media day on September 26 did not come as a surprise. Since appearing on Instagram Live before the start of last season, Irving's thoughts about taking the COVID-19 vaccine have been consistent. The 2016 NBA champion said last year:
“Nobody should be forced to do anything with their bodies. … If you choose to get vaccinated, I support you. If you choose to be unvaccinated, I support you. Do what is best for you. But that doesn’t mean going around and judging people, what they are doing with their lives."
Just last week, Kyrie Irving tweeted:
"If I can work and be unvaccinated, then all of my brothers and sisters who are also unvaccinated should be able to do the same, without being discriminated against, vilified, or fired."
"This enforced Vaccine/Pandemic is one the biggest violations of HUMAN RIGHTS in history."
Guess the Lakers players!
