NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 03: Kyrie Irving #11 of the Brooklyn Nets calls a play during the second half against the Washington Wizards at Barclays Center on January 03, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Wizards won 123-122. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)Kyrie Irving’s off-court escapades have only worsened as the week’s progressed.
After notching a no-show at the Nets’ matchup with the 76ers on Thursday, Irving has now missed three straight games. While reporters have been kept mostly in the dark, the organization has chalked up the star point guard’s absence to “personal reasons.”
On Monday night, videos of Irving maskless at a family birthday party went viral. These actions are a blatant disregard of the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols and will likely yield costly consequences.
League regulations state that no player is allowed to attend any bar, club, lounge or gathering of more than 15 people. These clips of Irving show multiple rules violations.
Videos have surfaced of Kyrie Irving at a large birthday gathering alongside his sister, Asia.
Kyrie’s sister & dad have birthdays this week.
Given the size of the gathering & now public nature of it, Kyrie might now have to undergo a quarantine period before returning. https://t.co/McrYtFH9XK pic.twitter.com/U4T1KAvMTl
— Billy Reinhardt (@BillyReinhardt) January 12, 2021
ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski highlighted the league’s course of action. Should the videos be confirmed as recent, Irving would be forced to forfeit $410 thousand per game lost to his mandatory isolation period.
If Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving is found to have violated league health/safety protocols, he's facing a proportional game reduction of 1/81.6 of his salary – $410K per game. He would forfeit that money for every game lost because of a mandated isolation. League's probing video now.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 12, 2021
Kyrie Irving has already been ruled out of Brooklyn’s matchup with the Denver Nuggets tonight. If the All-Star point guard is forced into isolation, he is expected to be out for a minimum of two more games.
These actions couldn’t have come at a worse time for Irving.
After three postponed games and multiple positive tests this week, the NBA and NBPA met on Tuesday to tighten up the league’s COVID-19 protocols.
Let’s see if Kyrie can keep up with an even more rigid structure.
