This isn’t really a Sixers story, but it affects the Sixers, because the Brooklyn Nets are one of a few teams that present a hurdle for “Phila” in their quest to finally make it past the second round.

Kyrie Irving, who is currently not participating in anything Nets-related, explained on IG live why he’s not getting the COVID vaccine:

https://twitter.com/ArtValley818_/status/1448640112317943836?s=20

So he fancies himself some sort of freedom fighter who is standing up against the tyranny of mandates. That seems to be the basic gist of what he’s saying. It’s not even really about vaccination, or COVID specifically, it’s more of a macro-level “fuck you I won’t do what you tell me,” as Rage Against the Machine once said.

From here it’s not very complicated. Freedom of choice ≠ freedom of consequence. Kyrie is more than welcome to decide what’s best for himself, and if he thinks taking a stand is more important than playing basketball, then go do it. Likewise, the NBA has the authority to set guidelines for participation within the league.

Bottom line, Kyrie Irving is a damn good player. Same as an injury, when you’re deprived of seeing this caliber of athlete on the floor, everybody loses. Yeah, Brooklyn issues benefit the Sixers, but in a perfect world everybody is healthy and available and playing at a high level, which obviously isn’t the case with the Nets as long as this Kyrie thing continues.