Charles Barkley once referred to Kyrie Irving as “Half-Man, Half-A-Season.” But it turns out that even that may be too generous for Irving.
The Brooklyn Nets star Irving was formally suspended by the team this week due to his recent antisemitic behavior. Irving will now be forced to sit out for at least the next five games without pay.
After news of the suspension broke, an absolutely wild fact about the seven-time All-Star went viral. StatMuse shared that Irving, since signing with the Nets in 2019, has missed more games (128) than he has played in (111).
Kyrie Nets career:
111 games played
128 games missed pic.twitter.com/zGFmnt1X7T— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 3, 2022
Sporadic injury absences aside, the trouble in Brooklyn began for Irving in the 2020-21 campaign when he took a mysterious leave of absence from the Nets, only to be seen partying in violation of league protocols. Then, Irving played just 29 games last season due to his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Now Irving is set to miss five more games at the very least over his promotion of an antisemitic film and subsequent refusal to apologize.
The Nets have outlined the steps that Irving will need to take before playing for them again. But given his apparent refusal to comply with that either, Irving could potentially miss far more than five more games for Brooklyn this season (bringing his total missed games for the Nets to over 133).
