SAN DIEGO — No pay, no play for Kyrie Irving. At least according to the NBA.
After the league stated that Irving (or any other player) who misses games due to refusal to comply with local COVID-19 vaccine mandates would also be docked game checks, politicians, both stateside and abroad, were weighing in on the Nets star’s stance — both ripping him, and backing him.
With Irving, the drama is daily.
“Any player who elects not to comply with local vaccination mandates will not be paid for games that he misses,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said.
Irving could stand to lose roughly $400,000 for each missed game.
Current city mandates in both New York and San Francisco would prevent Irving (or any other unvaccinated player) from playing home games in those arenas. In the case of Irving — whose Nets play twice at the Knicks and once at the Warriors — that conceivably could total 44 games.
Possible, but not probable or even plausible. Mandates can change, as can Irving’s mind. While he will make $34 million this season and can afford to lose checks to take any stance he wants, there are several in the building who are convinced he will eventually be swayed by teammates and take the vaccine.
Despite serving as a vice president on the executive committee of the players’ union — which would likely fight any such league action tooth and nail — Irving has personally declined to speak on the topic.
Irving and his vaccination stance have been an elephant in the room for some time, but Steve Nash insisted he hadn’t spoken to his All-Star point guard about the prospect of being unable to play or even practice at home, with the Nets’ HSS Training Center also falling under the city guidelines.
“No, I haven’t talked to him about it,” Nash said when asked by The Post. “I know he’s been great in camp, playing well and I’m excited to have him back on the floor. I’ve missed watching him play, coaching him. So, yeah, it’s just been great to have him back. So I really haven’t been involved with that side of things.”
It remains to be seen whether general manager Sean Marks will get involved, or possibly team owner Joe Tsai, who is expected to host the team over the next couple of days. With the team practicing at the University of San Diego, Tsai’s La Jolla home is just minutes away.
While 90 percent of the NBA players are vaccinated, that leaves roughly 10 percent who aren’t. That minority includes Golden State’s Andrew Wiggins, Washington star Bradley Beal, Orlando’s Jonathan Isaac and others — backed loudly by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
“I stand with Kyrie Irving,” tweeted Cruz, who is fully vaccinated. “I stand with Andrew Wiggins. I stand with Bradley Beal. I stand with Jonathan Isaac. #NBA #YourBodyYourChoice.”
The Republican senator wasn’t the only politician to weigh in on Irving, and was far from the most random.
Across the Atlantic Ocean, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez appeared to reference Irving during a session of parliament over the star’s purported backing of COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories.
“I have been a basketball fan for many years, and I follow the NBA basketball league a lot,” Sanchez told the parliament. “Nowadays, there is a problem in the NBA itself. There are several players who have spoken out against vaccinations.
“There is an NBA star who says he does not want to vaccinate because there is a conspiracy to vaccinate blacks and connect them with a computer that has a Satanic plan. This is verbatim.”
To be clear, it’s not exactly verbatim and Irving has not said that.
Sanchez appeared to be referring to a Rolling Stone article that cited Irving’s following and recent “likes” of Instagram posts from a conspiracy theorist who claims “secret societies” are implanting vaccines in a plot to connect blacks to a master computer for “a plan of Satan.” But those are his words, not Irving’s.
For his part, Irving has been steadfastly quiet on the subject, even in comparison with Wiggins (who has had contentious arguments with the press) and Beal. The Nets guard has simply fallen back on his Monday media day mantra of asking people to “respect my privacy.”