The Brooklyn Nets were fined $50,000 for allowing Kyrie Irving to enter the team’s dressing room during halftime of Sunday’s 110-107 victory over the Barclays Center.
Irving, who is not vaccinated, was allowed to attend Sunday’s home game as a spectator for the first time this season. However, the league said in a statement that the Nets violated local New York law and league health and safety protocols by allowing Irving to enter the team’s locker room.
Irving is allowed to enter the arena, but not to the workplace, and the dressing room is considered part of the Nets’ workplace at the Barclays Center. The NBA fines the organization, not Irving, for the violation.
Kevin Durant called New York Mayor Eric Adams after Sunday’s game, calling the policy of allowing Irving to attend Barclays games as a fan rather than a player “ridiculous” and saying that Adams should “deal with this.” However, he retracted some of his comments in a statement released by the Nets on Monday.
“The past two years have been a difficult and painful time for New Yorkers, and a very confusing time with a changing landscape of rules and mandates,” Durant said in a statement. “I appreciate the challenge the mayor has with everything the city has been through. My dissatisfaction with the situation does not change the fact that I will always strive to help the communities and cities in which I live and play. .”