Brooklyn Nets power forward Kevin Durant came to the defense of fellow teammate Kyrie Irving as he torched New York Mayor Eric Adams for pushing his vaccine mandate, forcing the unvaccinated Irving to sit out home games.
Speaking at a post-game press conference following the Nets’ victory over the New York Knicks, Durant called it “ridiculous” that the unvaccinated Irving could attend the game but not suit up and play due to the city’s “private sector” mandate.
“It’s ridiculous. I don’t understand it at all,” Durant told the media. “It just feels like, at this point now, someone is trying to make a statement or point to flex their authority.”
“Everybody out here looking for attention,” he added. “I feel like that’s what the Mayor wants right now; some attention.”
Durant added that the mandate “just looks stupid” and called on Eric Adams to “figure this out.”
“We’re all confused. Pretty much everybody in the world is confused at this point. Early on in the season, people didn’t understand what was going on but now, it just looks stupid. Eric, you gotta figure this out,” said Durant.
Adams urged Irving to “get vaccinated” when responding to a heckler on Sunday.
“Kyrie can play tomorrow,” Adams responded. “Get vaccinated.”
Even Lakers star LeBron James joined in the criticism of Eric Adams on Twitter.
“FACTS FACTS FACTS!! It literally makes ABSOLUTELY ZERO SENSE!!! They say if common sense was common then we’d all have it. Ain’t that the truth,” James wrote.
Irving refused to get the coronavirus vaccine last year after recovering from the coronavirus (natural immunity) and was universally condemned by the media and sports establishment, from NBA commissioner Adam Silver to Charles Barkley to Howard Stern.
“In terms of idiots, he’s got to be the top idiot in the country right now,” Stern said. “Guy’s got a chance as a young man to make millions of dollars, all he’s got to do is get vaccinated, but he doesn’t want to get vaccinated.”