Dr. Jay Varma recently bragged about blocking Kyrie Irving from playing ball because he didn’t take the vaccine back in 2020. Varma called Kyrie an “a**” and seemed pretty proud that he had been instrumental in sidelining Kyrie Irving due to the vaccine mandates he helped push. But was that really fair? Sure, Kyrie chose not to get the shot, but he had his reasons, and they seemed legit. Kyrie put it out there, saying, “Nobody should be forced to do anything with their bodies.”

Because of the whole COVID-19 vaccine mandate drama, things got super rough for Kyrie. He took a lot of heat and even lost a fat contract extension deal because of it. Kyrie reflected on his choice, saying,. “I gave up four years, 100-and-something million deciding to be unvaccinated and that was the decision,” Irving said. “[Get this] contract, get vaccinated or be unvaccinated and there’s a level of uncertainty of your future, whether you’re going to be in this league, whether you’re going to be on this team, so I had to deal with that real-life circumstance of losing my job for this decision.”

The wild part is, Kyrie stayed true to his decision of not getting the vaccine, even with all the heat and setbacks he had to deal with. It just shows how tough and committed he is to standing up for what he believes in, no matter how many challenges get thrown his way.