Kyrie Irving has a history of being a little sporadic at times with every team he has been on, but nothing has been quite this severe. Kyrie Irving last played for the Nets on January 5th against the Utah Jazz. Since then, he has gone “Off the grid,” according to a Nets spokesperson. No one in the Nets organization can reach him, and no one knows why he left or where he is, let me break it down for you.
January 5th, the Nets blew out the Jazz 130-98 and the Nets were coming off back-to-back losses and it felt good to get a blow out win. Then after that game Kyrie told head coach Steve Nash that he would miss the next two games against the 76ers and Grizzlies and that he would not make the road trip due to “personal reasons” and Nash granted him the games off. Even though the Nets were also missing Kevin Durant to the Covid protocols put in place by the NBA this season.
January 7th, still no word from Kyrie and the Nets are on the second game of a two-game road trip without him to face the Grizzlies and then fly home for the Thunder. The Nets lost both games without Kyrie which now brings their record without him to 1-3 on the season. Kyrie Irving has yet to communicate with any coach, teammate, front office member or even a stadium worker to tell them where he is or when he plans on returning.
January 9th, A video surfaces that appears to be Kyrie Irving at a birthday party for his Sister and Father. Irving appears to be in a club in West Orange, New Jersey (where he is from) and he appears to be mask less in a large group of 30+ people. The Nets said they will be investigating the video themselves and then will hand over all the information they have to the NBA.
January 11th: The NBA announces that Irving must quarantine for at least a full week and register at least two negative Covid tests in that time frame in order to be able to reunite with his team and teammates. Still no communication between Kyrie and anyone in the Nets organization as of January 11th.
January 12th, The Nets face off against the MVP candidate Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray and the Nuggets. His absence was felt once again as the Nets were down the entire game until Kevin Durant hit two three pointers in the final minutes of the game to give the Nets the comeback, winning 122-116. The Nets record without Kyrie is now 2-3. Still no word from Irving as of January 12th.
January 13th. As of right now the best-case scenario would be for Kyrie to do his time in quarantine, register two negative tests and, get back on the court for the January 20th game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nets fans are not assuming he will do that though. As of January 13th, we still have no word from Kyrie Irving or his team about when his possible return might be, but Nets fans hope it is soon because the Nets have a tough stretch of games coming up that include the Bucks, Magic, and the Heat. There has still been zero communication between Kyrie Irving and the Nets as of January 13th.
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