NBA commissioner Adam Silver -- NYC COVID-19 vaccination rule keeping Kyrie Irving from playing at home 'doesn't quite make sense'

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the New York City vaccination mandate that is preventing Nets guard Kyrie Irving from playing in home games «doesn't quite make sense to me» during an appearance on ESPN's Get Up on Wednesday morning.

As an unvaccinated player against COVID-19, Irving cannot play at the Barclays Center because of the mandate. However, a player from a different market who is unvaccinated can play in New York City.

«This law in New York, the oddity of it to me is that it only applies to home players,» Silver said. «I think if ultimately that rule is about protecting people who are in the arena, it just doesn't quite make sense to me that an away player who is unvaccinated can play in Barclays but the home player can't. To me, that's a reason they should take a look at that ordinance.»

Silver said that the league wanted to make vaccinations a requirement for players but the NBPA pushed back at that. Still, he mentioned having 97-to-98% of players vaccinated and a «vast majority» boosted.

With the NBA offices in New York City, Silver has seen firsthand some of the masking restrictions being lifted and mentioned there's a «feel» in the city and more people are out and about.

«So while again, my personal view is people should get vaccinated and boosted, I can imagine a scenario where Brooklyn, as part of New York City, with a new mayor now who wasn't in place, Eric Adams, when that original ordinance was put into place, I could see him deciding to change along the way and say it's no longer necessary to have a mandatory vaccination requirement, as I said particularly one that only affects home players,» Silver said.

Last Saturday while talking to reporters in Miami, Irving expressed hope that the mandate would