By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The Brooklyn Nets are standing on top of the Eastern Conference standings, despite still missing Kyrie Irving. The team coached by Steve Nash has captured 14 wins over the first 20 games of the 2021-22 NBA Regular Season.
Irving, 29, has been sidelined by the team until he becomes fully eligible. According to his vaccination status, he would be able to play in selected away games, but the Nets opted not to move forward with him on a part-time status.
Players and team officials have since been careful not to put additional pressure on the former top draft pick. Discussions have been circling on his well-being, rather than basketball-related topics, as noted by Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
“At this point, I send certain messages because I know his phone’s getting blown up at this time,” said DeAndre’ Bembry regarding contacting his teammate, “So I try to give him his space, because I know he’s just one of those people that needs his space sometimes to collect his thoughts and his energy and stuff. So for the most part, I definitely sent him a couple of messages over this time to just check up on him, make sure he’s good.”
“I know he’s good, I know he’ll figure this out and get through it,” he added, “But for the most part, like I said, I try to give him his space, because I know I know how this could be. I know a lot of his family’s calling him, friends, fans and all type of people, so try to give them a little bit of space with all of this that’s going on.”
Irving chose not to get the COVID-19 vaccine surprising both team officials and fans. Therefore was placed in the restrictions stemming from health and safety protocols implemented to battle the coronavirus, including those essentially preventing him from being an active NBA player.
“If you know Ky, you know he loves his personal space,” mentioned Bembry, “So being able to let him work through this because obviously we all want him back, but it’s more so about his decisions right now and what he wants to do. So we can’t really do too much about it. We just pray for him and hope that he can come back.”
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