Report: Irving, Unvaccinated Yankees Could Play at Home As NYC Expected to Change Mandate

Mayor Eric Adams is reportedly considering lifting New York City’s vaccine mandate on Thursday.

Kyrie Irving may finally be able to play at the Barclays Center.

According to Politico’s Sally Goldenberg, New York City mayor Eric Adams is expected to reverse the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for performers and athletes in advance of Opening Day. Adams already said he expects to lift the mask mandate for toddlers in city daycare centers on April 4.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Jeff Passan also reported New York City is making “progress” on its private-sector vaccine mandate that would allow unvaccinated players on New York teams to play home games.

Story filed to ESPN w/ @JeffPassan: Progress toward further changes to NYC’s private-sector vaccine mandate has inspired confidence that Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving could be back on court for home games in near future. Yankees and Mets players would be cleared before Opening Day too.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 23, 2022

On Tuesday, Adams said he wasn’t considering repealing the mandate, stating that “when this is all said and done, people are going to realize this is a thoughtful administration, and we got it right.”

Nets guard Kyrie Irving hasn’t played a home game all season as a result of this mandate. Additionally, unvaccinated Mets and Yankees players wouldn’t be able to play at home if this mandate is still in place on Opening Day.

Any unvaccinated baseball player who is forced to miss games due to this mandate would be placed on the restricted list, which would mean they lose paychecks and service time.

According to ESPN, MLB has been working behind the scenes with the mayor’s office. However, players on the two New York teams were sent a memo outlining what would happen if the mandate remains in place, and players were preparing for the worst until the mandate is officially lifted.