Durant, Irving Palling Around with Fans Courtside is Bad Look for NBA at This Time

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by Julian Spivey
I was shocked and disappointed on Wednesday night (Jan. 27) when scrolling through my Twitter feed and seeing video of Brooklyn Nets All-Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving participating in a jersey giveaway with rapper 2 Chainz, who was in attendance for the Nets game against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
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I hadn’t realized there were any NBA arenas yet opened to fans amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in this country. State Farm Arena just opened up eight percent capacity this week for fans to attend Hawks home games, which amounts to about 1,300 fans per game.

OK, social distancing with masks at eight percent capacity and a health survey upon contactless entrance is probably better than we’ve seen from many sporting events that have welcomed back fans to this point, but the sight of two of the leagues biggest stars without masks on palling around with those in attendance, sharing jerseys with them and fist bumping them (actual freakin’ contact!) is a horrible sign for the NBA.

Making matters even worse is this comes one day after the death of longtime NBA reporter Sekou Smith, who died at just 48 from COVID-19 on Tuesday (Jan. 26).

Before the game, the Hawks had honored Smith with a moment of silence and then as soon as the final horn sounded on the Nets 132-128 overtime win over Atlanta two of the leagues biggest stars flaunted their disregard for COVID-19 safety protocols.

Also, I’d be remised if I didn’t point out that Irving had just returned to the Nets one week ago after being out since January 5 for violating league COVID-19 protocols by attending an indoor family party without wearing a mask, which resulted in him losing out on almost $1 million after being fined $50,000 by the league for violating that policy and forfeiting his game salary for each game he missed during his mandated quarantine period. Durant had also missed a handful of games earlier this month after exposure to someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.

The lack of caring these guys had on Wednesday night should draw some sort of criticism from league officials, though I’d be surprised if anything came of it.

The league, which successfully got through its 2020 playoffs in an isolated bubble in Orlando, Fla., has seen quite a bit of COVID-19 related issues since the 2020-2021 season began in late December with teams no longer competing in a bubble and being back at their home arenas and having to travel.

As of Wednesday, the league has seen 22 games postponed due to teams not being able to play dress the minimum eight players for a game due to positives or players who may have been exposed to positives. Just Wednesday night the Chicago Bulls at Memphis Grizzlies game was postponed. It was the sixth Grizzlies game postponed this season. The Washington Wizards have also had six games postponed thus far.

Things are so much up in the air with the NBA that the league didn’t even bother scheduling games for the second half of the season yet because they didn’t know what things would look like and how teams might have to rescheduled postponed games. Some teams are as much as a quarter of the way through their regular season schedules and don’t even know who they’re playing seven weeks from now.
 
I understand why the league is playing and I understand why a bubble didn’t quite make as much since for a 72-game regular season for each team plus the playoffs, but it’s not outlandish to believe players shouldn’t be fist bumping fans in attendance, no matter how many Grammy Awards they’ve been nominated for.
At the very least, Durant and Irving should act like they give a damn about what’s going on in the world and in their very own community. 

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