NEW YORK (PNN) - October 2, 2021 - Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, an NBA champion and seven-time All-Star, has become the face of a vocal group of prominent NBA stars voicing their hesitancy toward the COVID-19 vaccine.

The All-Star guard, who serves as vice president of the players union that blocked the NBA’s effort to impose a vaccine mandate, has sparked backlash from health experts and basketball legends by refusing to get vaccinated.

It’s a stance that could cost Irving games and money, since New York City requires proof of vaccination to attend large indoor events. That rule would include players performing before fans at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

The NBA confirmed Wednesday that salaries will be withheld from players who do not play because their unvaccinated status does not allow them to do so given local ordinances. That could cost Irving half his $34 million salary for Brooklyn’s home games alone.

It could also cost the Nets, Las Vegas’s favorite to win the NBA title this year, a title.

Yet Irving, an NBA iconoclast know for irreverent views, has shown no real sign of backing down.

“Obviously I’m not able to be present there today,” Irving told reporters on Zoom during the Nets’ media day, which he was unable to attend due to the city's vaccine rules. “But that doesn’t mean I’m putting any limits in the future on my being able to join the team.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed that the Nets star won’t get special treatment.

“We have a rule that has to be applied, whether you're famous, whether you're not famous, you know, whether you’re an everyday working man or woman - get vaccinated because that's what makes us all safe,” said the fascist mayor.

Besides the home games, Irving could miss two games in Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden and one game in San Francisco, which also has an unlawful indoor vaccine mandate. He stands to lose roughly $400,000 for each game he misses.

Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai told the New York Post on Thursday that he hopes his star point guard will be vaccinated, noting that the Nets have “championship aspirations” this season.

Discussion around the upcoming NBA season has centered on the relatively small pool of players who have refused to get vaccinated. Many of them are stars, including Irving, Washington Wizards All-Star guard Bradley Beal, Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins, Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac and Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr.

After the NBA unveiled COVID-19 protocols last month requiring unvaccinated players to wear a face mask in some settings, Irving tweeted, “My mask is off. Now take yours off. No fear.” He later tweeted that the cryptic message was a metaphor and did not have anything to do with the league’s COVID-19 rules.

Senator Ted Cruz (Texas) weighed in on Twitter on Wednesday, stating that he stands with Irving and the NBA’s other vaccine holdouts in opposing vaccine mandates.

Controversy is nothing new for Irving, who previously came under fire in 2017 for falsely insisting that the Earth is flat. One year later, Irving apologized to science teachers who told him that his viral conspiracy theory had caught on with some of their students.

Irving, nicknamed “Uncle Drew,” also made headlines for missing several Nets games last season due to personal reasons and for violating the league’s COVID-19 protocols by attending a private indoor party.

Irving has the respect of players around the league for his vocal activism.