Woj: Nets Confident Kyrie Irving Will Be Cleared as Full-Time Player This Season

The Brooklyn Nets are optimistic that Kyrie Irving's time as a part-time player will come to an end before this season is over. 

Appearing on ESPN's NBA Today (h/t Anthony Puccio of Front Office Sports), Adrian Wojnarowski reported there is "confidence" around the Nets that the vaccine mandates in New York City will change "at some point" that would allow Irving to play home games. 

Irving's unvaccinated status means he has been unable to play home games in New York City, as well as road games in San Francisco (Chase Center) and Toronto (Scotiabank Arena) because of local mandates. 

The New York City mandate has been a topic of discussion in recent weeks.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a Feb. 16 interview on ESPN's Get Up (h/t ESPN's Andrew Lopez) that the rule "doesn't quite make sense to me" because unvaccinated players from teams in a different market are eligible to play in New York City. 

New York City did discontinue vaccine requirements for indoor public spaces—restaurants, bars, nightclubs, gyms, movie theaters, concert venues, museums, arenas—on March 7. 

The change does allow Irving to attend Nets home games at Barclays Center, but New York City mayor Eric Adams said in a statement that all other mandates would remain in place for the time being. 

Adams told reporters on Feb. 28 that making an exception for Irving to play home games "would send the wrong message" to the rest of the city. 

Time is not on the side of Irving or the Nets. If the mandate doesn't change before the end of the regular season, he wouldn't be eligible to play in the final four games (three at home and at the New York Knicks). 

Brooklyn would currently be in the play-in tournament as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference. Its 33-33 record is only 1.5 games ahead of the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 10 seed. 

Irving had his best game of the season on Tuesday against the Charlotte Hornets. He dropped 50 points on 15-of-19 shooting (9-of-12 from three) in a 132-121 win.