Getty Image / Mark Brown
- New York City has created an exemption for athletes that will allow Kyrie Irving to play home games
- He’ll play his first home game of the season on Sunday
- Read more BroBible articles here
The Brooklyn Nets just received some fantastic news. Thanks to New York City providing in-town athletes and entertainers with an exemption to their existing mandate, Kyrie Irving will finally be able to play home games for the Brooklyn Nets.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the exemption will go into effect on Thursday and Kyrie will play his first home game of the year on Sunday.
Kyrie Irving is eligible to make his home debut at Barclays Center on Sunday vs. the Charlotte Hornets, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. New NYC exemption for in-town athletes and performers will be effective immediately beginning Thursday.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 23, 2022
The exemption comes after many around the sports world had recently questioned the Kyrie Irving situation. New York City’s previous mandate had made it so that Kyrie Irving could attend games as a spectator, which he had done both for the Nets and at college basketball games, but couldn’t actual play in the games.
The Nets even received a fine last week because Kyrie visited the team’s locker room after he had just watched them play the Knicks. Luckily, that isn’t something they will have to worry about again as the city has amended this seemingly nonsensical issue.
This is a huge boost for the Nets as they had struggled with Kyrie at home and still aren’t entirely sure when Ben Simmons will make his debut. The timing is particularly important as we aren’t far off from the playoffs and the Nets need to be at full strength, especially if they have to battle all the way from a play-in game.
The news will also give the Mets and Yankees once less thing to worry about as the MLB rushes to get its season started. There were at least a few Yankees who would have been impacted by the previous mandate according to Aaron Boone.
All of a sudden, the Brooklyn Nets are going to be a very tough team to play at home again.