Kevin Durant blasted NYC Mayor Eric Adams last week over “ridiculous” Covid restrictions that prevented a star teammate of his from playing home games in Brooklyn.
Now, Durant appears to be walking those comments back.
“The last two years have been a difficult and painful time for New Yorkers, as well as a very confusing time with the changing landscape of the rules and mandates,” Durant said, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. “I do appreciate the task the Mayor has in front of him with all the city has been through. My frustration with the situation doesn’t change the fact that I will always be committed to helping the communities and cities I live in and play in.”
Durant’s comments at Adams stem from an incident on Sunday when unvaccinated Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, who is banned from playing home games at Barclays Center by a private sector ordinance, attended an ACC tournament game as a spectator in Brooklyn. Though he is permitted to attend as a spectator, the Covid restrictions prevent Irving from playing any games at Barclays Center.
That inconsistency in Covid restrictions prompted Durant to sound off about the restrictions, and at Adams.
“It’s ridiculous,” Durant said. “I don’t understand it at all. There’s a few people in our arena that’s unvaxxed, right? They lifted all of that in our arena, right? So I don’t get it … I don’t get it. It just feels like at this point now, somebody’s trying to make a statement or a point to flex their authority. But everybody out here is looking for attention and that’s what I feel like the mayor wants right now, is some attention. But he’ll figure it out soon. He better.”
“But it just didn’t make any sense,” Durant continued. “There’s unvaxxed people in this building already. We got a guy who can come in the building, I guess, are they fearing our safety? I don’t get it. 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. So hopefully, Eric, you got to figure this out.”
As Sports Illustrated reports, “Adams lifted some of New York City’s restrictions on March 7, but Irving is still ineligible to play in Brooklyn home games because of a mandate that requires those who work for a New York-based business to be vaccinated. The Nets point guard has not played in Barclays Center this season.”
The Nets were fined $50,000 for allowing Irving into the team’s locker room on Sunday, violating the city law.
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