On Sunday, Kyrie Irving missed his third consecutive Brooklyn Nets game for undisclosed personal reasons. "We support him 100 percent and pray for the best," said his teammate Kevin Durant. "Ky's still on personal leave and all the communication with Ky, between the organization, I'm going to keep private and I'm sure you'll hear from him at some point," said coach Steve Nash. Irving is also listed as out for Tuesday's game against the Nuggets.
Whatever it was that was keeping Irving off the floor, it sounded serious. Maybe it was serious. But in the midst of the serious personal issues that sidelined him from his day job, Kyrie Irving was also... throwing a well-attended, indoors, unmasked party to celebrate his sister's birthday. Interesting! Let's hope this resolves the personal issues.
Videos have surfaced of Kyrie Irving at a large birthday gathering alongside his sister, Asia.
— Billy Reinhardt (@BillyReinhardt) January 12, 2021
Kyrie’s sister & dad have birthdays this week.
Given the size of the gathering & now public nature of it, Kyrie might now have to undergo a quarantine period before returning. https://t.co/McrYtFH9XK pic.twitter.com/U4T1KAvMTl
Asia Irving's 30th birthday is Jan. 12, 2021, and in the video she is seen blowing out a cake with the number "30" on it. Elsewhere, balloons reading "AIXXX" ("Asia Irving 30") float in the background. The party appears to be at a venue located in Irving's hometown of West Orange, NJ.
I'll concede that I've been sympathetic to Irving's point of view many times in the past, and I do think his contrarianism occasionally leads him to the correct position—if only in a stopped-clock kind of way—but this is the end of this guy claiming any high ground on the subject of the pandemic. Separately, on a simple operational note, if you're Kyrie Irving and you're intent on doing something this stupid, can't you just confiscate everyone's phone so you don't get exposed?
Even if Irving has any intention of returning to the Nets, COVID-19 protocol will keep him off the floor for quite a while, but that won't make the Nets so different from the rest of the teams in this dysfunctional league.
