It’s now been a week that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting the NBA with players having to sit out, bringing the teams right to the mandatory eight players needed to compete. One player that’s been sitting out for non-COVID related reasons though is none other than Nets guard Kyrie Irving.
Irving has missed three straight games due to “personal reasons,” without ever alluding to what that personal reason is. Yes, that may seem nosy and kind of self-explanatory since it is “personal,” but the NBA and Nets fans would like to know.
One thing that is worth noting though is the timing of this sitting out. Irving last played on Tuesday, January 5. The following day angry Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, broke in, made it to the chamber and elected officials’ offices. Four lives were lost and many injured.
There’s been some speculation that these two things are related.
For those who don’t know the 6x All-Star’s history, he’s been in the news for non-basketball related things. He’s jokingly said the world was flat, he’s verbally committed to resigning to the Boston Celtics to just changing his mind shortly after, he’s indirectly called out teammates for lack of effort, he also started off this season saying he was going to forego talking to the media and then calling the media pawns. Now this.
In his defense though, some of these things were just a result of misconceptions. One thing’s for certain, two things for sure, Irving’s heart and intentions have always been in the right place.
If there is any validity to the U.S. Capitol speculation, this wouldn’t be any different. Irving likely feels how a lot of people of color feel about what took place on January 6. With this country’s complex history with POCs and law enforcement (and the relationship between the two), at the very least it’s fair to say that if it had been POCs storming the capitol many more lives would have been lost.
In addition to that, that day also revealed something else to this country’s inhabitants. If one of this country’s most important edifices can be breached that easily, are any of us safe? If elected U.S. officials had to hide under their desks, what does that say about how safe you and I are?
Again, this is all speculation, but we as human beings all comprehend and deal with information in different ways. So needless to say, that’s a lot to take in for a person.
Hopefully Brooklyn’s NBA champion point guard gets better soon from whatever he’s dealing with.
The Nets’ next matchup is against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
