On February 17, Beijing time, the new mayor of New York, Eric Adams, was interviewed by the media, during which he talked about the fact that basketball star Owen violated the epidemic prevention regulations of New York City because he did not get a vaccine, resulting in his inability to play in the Nets' home game. The new mayor of New York said the current epidemic prevention regulations were unfair to new York teams and players.
'I think the rules are very unfair and to be honest, I'm struggling at the moment because the rules are different for home teams and away teams, and away players who aren't vaccinated can play at barclays centres, but home players can't. Adams said so.
Adams's words immediately attracted the attention of the Nets, and the team's head coach Nash also talked about this issue in an interview with the media, and Nash publicly said that he hoped that New York would cancel the epidemic prevention regulations.
"I hope New York can repeal the epidemic regulations and hope that Irving can play, but this is not in our control, we expect things to change, we are still waiting for the mayor to make a final decision." Nash said.
If New York City changes its epidemic regulations and Irving can play in the home game, then for the Nets, their situation will be greatly improved, and the hope of winning the championship will be renewed.
However, some people believe that it is still difficult to say whether New York City will change the epidemic prevention regulations, and it is also possible that in order to maintain fairness, New York City will ban the unvaccinated players of the visiting team. What's more, the epidemic prevention regulations in other parts of the United States may change at any time, so the best way to solve the problem completely is to let Owen get vaccinated.