Kyrie Irving will play more than 39 games this season.
Kyrie Irving's vaccination status is up in the air, but we tell you why he plays more than 39 games.
Call it a hunch, optimism or fake positivity.
But in the ruthless world of missed opportunities that is fantasy basketball, I couldn’t let Kyrie Irving slip past me at pick 33 in our 12-team 9-cat draft last Sunday.
It is a risk, but so is Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and all the other injury prone players in the league, with no risk comes no reward.
So let’s dive into why I took a punt on Kyrie and what this means for you.
The fact is, right now Kyrie Irving is unvaccinated and according to New York State law, is unable to play in the 41 home games and 2 away games that the Brooklyn Nets will play in New York. Today, Shams reported that the state of New York has ruled the Nets training centre to be a ‘private office’ and therefore, Kyrie is eligible to train at the venue.
Why does that give us hope?
That’s simply step one of getting Kyrie to play, he’ll be in the gym working if he’s not eligible to play in New York so at the very least he will still be fit and in form.
But what is step two? Kyrie actually has not said publically he is refusing to get vaccinated, it is very much implied by his actions and what has been said, but he has not come out and said I will miss games because I refuse to be vaccinated. Which for now is a good thing.
You can count on Kevin Durant and James Harden talking to Kyrie behind the scenes. If not outright encouraging, there is definite dialogue about how they can get Kyrie into the court more than 39 times. You can take that to the bank. Ownership, coaching staff and the public will at some stage put pressure on Irving to commit to this team or at least publicly declare, he is not playing home games. There are a few lines of inquiries here and with one of the biggest detriments to Irving missing half the season being the fact that he loses $15.6million from his annual salary, there is a monumental decision brewing soon.
But let’s flip the coin, say they don't get through to Irving and they end up in the very real scenario where Irving walks out for 39 games this season. Is he still draftable?
Shown above is Irving’s 2020-2021 season averages, top 15 as we know. He’s very good across all nine categories and usually an easy second-round pick due to his elite %s for a point guard. But does missing 43 games make up for that?
Well there is actually a scenario here where a 2 game a week Irving does actually constitute to winning basketball. If you build for FG% and FT% Kyrie is elite in these categories, there are weeks where he simply does not miss FT’s. Building with lots of bigs who shoot well and dont get to the free throw line can put you in good stead. You will in most likelihood lose points and 3s, but if you punt these 2 categories you can still have a winning team. It is salvageable.
Is this full blown optimism for someone who drafted him at 33 and is facing a very real reality that he may play 2 games a week? Probably. But, we still think he plays more than 39 games this year.
Share your thoughts below.