Report: Kyrie Irving's Vaccination Intentions Unclear; Nets' Optimism 'Waning'

The plot has thickened on Kyrie Irving's standing with the Brooklyn Nets.

As Irving reportedly remains unvaccinated and unable to practice in Brooklyn or play with the team in home games given New York City's vaccine mandates for professional sporting events, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst reported Tuesday that the team remains undecided whether it'll "accommodate him as a part-time player."

It's going to become a very complicated situation if Irving's reported unvaccinated status remains. For one, he'll be giving up a lot of money.

For another, it puts the Nets in an incredibly difficult spot. Imagine Irving missing half of the season and not being able to play in any home games during the postseason. For a team with championship aspirations, that's an unacceptable outcome.

As Wojnarowski and Windhorst reported, "the Nets could be faced soon with a decision on whether they'll allow Irving to come and go with the team in and out of New York—or just keep him sidelined all together."

They added that head coach Steve Nash has already said the team won't move its practice location to accommodate Irving and that the organization believes it has been "outwardly supportive of Irving's process to consider vaccination and believe they've listened, supported, and educated him, but the franchise's collective patience will be increasingly tested the longer that Irving stops short of committing to join the team on a full-time basis."

The subtext here is pretty simple—if Irving's reported unvaccinated status remains, the Nets are eventually going to have to consider trading him.

But attempting to trade him could end up being even more complicated, with FS1's Nick Wright reporting in September that Irving could simply choose to retire if the Nets traded him. Irving had a pretty pointed response to that report:

True or not, the uncertainty that surrounds Irving would absolutely affect his trade market:

Unless Irving's reported unvaccinated status changes or he agrees to a trade, the Nets are in a pretty impossible position. For a Nets team that is the unquestioned favorite to win a title with a healthy Durant, Harden and Irving on the court, it's hard to imagine a less appealing situation.