Kyrie Irving returned to a Brooklyn Nets' practice for the first time since the preseason and said he understood why the team decided to have him stay away because of New York City's vaccine mandate.
"I understood their decision and respected it," Irving told beat writers Wednesday at the Nets practice facility in Brooklyn, making his first public comments since Oct. 13. "I really had to sit back and think and try not to become too emotionally attached to what they were deciding to do. I had to really evaluate things and see it from their perspective, meaning the organization, my teammates.