For good or for bad, Kyrie Irving and his stance on the Covid-19 vaccine have been the talk of the NBA offseason with many analysts giving their views on what they believe Kyrie should do.
During halftime of the Brooklyn Nets season opener on TNT, the cast of Inside the NBA gave their takes on the issue.
Kenny Smith started, saying that he felt empathy for Kyrie’s position and that it comes down to how comfortable people are with “what you’ve read and what you understand.” about the vaccine.
Charles Barkley very visibly was grimacing at this, and argued saying “First of all, you don’t get the vaccine for yourself, you get it for other people.”
“I got vaccinated. I can’t wait to get the booster,” he continued. “You don’t get vaccinated just for yourself. Like Adam [Silver] said, you get vaccinated for your family first, you get vaccinated for your teammates second. I am proud of the Nets for putting their foot down, for saying no we aren’t going to deal with this half on and half off.”
Barkley then vehemently disagreed with those applauding Kyrie for standing up for what he believes in, and comparing what he is doing to the late boxer Muhammad Ali.
“People said he is like Ali, first of all don’t ever compare anybody to Ali. Ali went three years without boxing, he was the highest-paid athlete in the world. This guy is going to make $17 million for sitting at home.”
There were many people on social media on both sides of the fence, either agreeing with Barkley or condemning his comments.
Shaq then agreed with Barkley on his stance, saying “I had some second thoughts, but I said I’m not going to get Dr. Lucille O’Neal sick.” referring to his mother.
Barkley then gave a shout out to one of his former teammates, Cedric Ceballos who was in the hospital for 20 days with serious symptoms from Covid, but returned home in late September.
