Politics have collided into the sports world.
It’s become increasingly difficult to enjoy sports without political drama.
Now one NBA star who defied Joe Biden just got completely blindsided.
Brooklyn Nets star point guard Kyrie Irving has been constantly hammered by the left over the past year.
He became an enemy of the Democrats when he refused to get the COVID vaccine.
He was called a selfish kook for taking his stand, and the establishment doesn’t appear to be done punishing him.
Nike, the biggest and most powerful shoe company in the world, is reportedly cutting ties with Irving.
From ESPN:
“Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving has long had one of Nike’s most popular and profitable signature basketball shoes, but uncertainties surrounding his NBA future have left the company unlikely to extend him to a similar signature deal beyond the 2022-23 season, sources told ESPN. Irving has a new edition of his shoe set to debut in the fall, but that is expected to be the final year of a lucrative signature series that he has had with Nike since 2014, sources said. Reached by ESPN, Nike did not deny the looming end to Irving’s signature shoe series.”
Nike is very much part of the establishment.
The company pushes wokeness by promoting athletes like anti-American anthem protester Colin Kaepernick while simultaneously ignoring the human rights abuses of the Chinese Communist Party.
ESPN continued:
“The turbulence surrounding Irving — which includes the Nets’ noncommittal stance on negotiating a long-term contract — has included several episodes in the past two years. For much of the NBA season, Irving remained unvaccinated against the coronavirus and inactive because of New York City mandates. Eventually, the Nets changed course and allowed him to become a part-time player for road games, and a change in city policy allowed him to play home games for the final stretch of the regular season and in the playoffs. Irving averaged 27.4 points in 29 games for the Nets before a four-game sweep by the Boston Celtics in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.”
Joe Biden’s draconian COVID policies essentially derailed Brooklyn’s season.
The Nets could never get in a rhythm with Irving missing so many games and not being allowed to play with the team consistently.
In the end, Irving was proven right.
Biden’s unconstitutional vaccine mandate was struck down by the Supreme Court, and the justification for forced vaccination fell apart.
As censored physicians and epidemiologists argued last year, the vaccine does not prevent spread of the virus; both the vaccinated and unvaccinated can pass along COVID.
If Donald Trump had not won in 2016, Hillary Clinton would have been able to put three leftists on the Supreme Court, and the vaccine mandate decision would have gone the other way.
That’s how close it came to Americans being forced by OSHA regulations to inject the vaccine into their bodies.
Nike gave Kaepernick an endorsement deal for taking a knee against America.
Irving got the opposite treatment from Nike for standing up for American freedom.
