In a normal season, Kyrie Irving usually has a case as one of the top 15 players in the NBA. But 2021-22 was anything but normal for Irving.
The Brooklyn Nets guard was only able to play in 29 of a possible 82 regular-season games after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19. New York City’s vaccination mandate made it so that he couldn’t play home games, and more than two months of the season had passed before the Nets relented on giving him part-time status.
While he was his usual spectacular self when he played, him being available for just 35% of the season hurt Brooklyn and might’ve been the catalyst to their first-round playoff sweep — Irving even admitted to feeling like he let the team down. All that considered, it’s hard to understand why ESPN analyst and former NBA player Jalen Rose gave Irving an All-NBA Third Team vote, as revealed Wednesday in the voting results.
