As COVID-related absences mushroom throughout NBA, two Brooklyn Nets games postponed

Sports Should Take a Holiday Vacation, New York Times Sports columnist Kurt Streeter wrote presciently 12/16/21, citing "a new wave of coronavirus infections sweeping the globe," notably changing policies and postponing games in the NFL, NBA, and NHL, plus college basketball and European soccer.

"What should the sports world do?" he wrote. "Take the holidays off. No games. No practices. No fans jammed in stands mask-less, passing along Omicron with every high-five and throaty cheer."

As Streeter noted, "[p]layers won’t like it," nor would "[leagues and team owners and sponsors... because of their insatiable desire to make money, money and more money."

Indeed, we're faced instead with more ad hoc policies and, perhaps, the resumption--as Streeter suggests--of daily testing. He calls for required vaccination for all players (hey, Kyrie Irving!) and required vaccination from fans and the wearing of masks. 

(Well, NYC requires both, with the exception for eating and drinking, which is a pretty significant loophole, and why some people won't attend.)

And the Nets

Yesterday came the announcement, BROOKLYN NETS VS. DENVER NUGGETS AND WASHINGTON WIZARDS GAMES POSTPONED, "because of players and staff members entering the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocols."

As the New York Post noted, "there are currently 10 Nets in health & safety protocols — including the entire Big 3 of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving." 

Those "protocols" mean either a positive or inconclusive test, or, if unvaccinated, exposure to someone positive--and requires two negative COVID tests at least a day apart to exit. NetsDaily said the unvaccinated Irving, just after being welcomed back to the team in an astonishing turnabout, had tested positive.

From the Post:

Barely able to field the league minimum of eight players, veteran guard Patty Mills had to suit up on what had originally been slated as a rest day and veteran big man Blake Griffin — whose knee surgeries have robbed him of much of his explosiveness and prevent him from playing back-to-backs — gutted out the entire second half in pain after banging knees with an Orlando player.

So the Nets, like other teams, are busy bringing up minor league players and signing some out of the league.

The Nets’ backpedaling lets Kyrie Irving put himself in harm’s way, wrote Kristian Winfield and Kyle Wagner in hte Daily News yesterday, taking aim at GM Sean Marks' claim that they had done "what was best for the team" in the past, and under new circumstances:

The question of “what’s best” is relative, of course. Irving is among just 3% of NBA players who have not received at least one dose a COVID-19 vaccine so far this season. 

They added:

At the end of the day, it comes down to responsibility. Make no mistake: The Nets have absolutely acquiesced to more selfish forces by backpedaling on their initial decision. By allowing Irving to return, unvaccinated, and on a part-time basis, they are eroding the continuity they sought and the increased safety they earned. But the fact that they were in a position to have to make such a decision is a reflection of every other party along the way passing the buck until someone had to make a hard choice. The NBA, New York State, the United States government, and not least of all, Irving himself.

They also noted that "personal choices" affect others, not just in terms of the transmissibility during the pandemic, but the increased load on teammates.