NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving says he turned down a four-year extension prior to the 2021-22 season because of his decision not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.”I gave up four years, 100-and-something million deciding to be unvaccinated and that was the decision,” Irving said during Nets media day on Monday. “[Get this] contract, get vaccinated or be unvaccinated and there’s a level of uncertainty of your future, whether you’re going to be in this league, whether you’re going to be on this team, so I had to deal with that real-life circumstance of losing my job for this decision.”
Irving, who is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and was forced to miss home games in Brooklyn until late March because of a New York City vaccination mandate, opted into the final year of his contract, a player option worth $36.5 million, prior to the season. The 30-year-old said he felt the decision whether to get vaccinated was like “an ultimatum” from the organization, in regard to his contract. Irving said he was hopeful that he would have the contract terms set prior to last season.
We were supposed to have all that figured out before training camp last year,” Irving said. “And it just didn’t happen because of the status of me being vaccinated, unvaccinated. So, I understood their point and I just had to live with it. It was a tough pill to swallow, honestly.” For his part, Nets GM Sean Marks pushed back on the notion that Irving was given an “ultimatum” regarding his contract. “There’s no ultimatum being given here,” Marks said. “Again, it goes back to you want people who are reliable, people who are here, and accountable. All of us: staff, players, coaches, you name it.