Kyrie Irving Fined, Loses Game Checks For Violating COVID-19 Protocols

Nets star Kyrie Irving has been fined $50K for violating the NBA’s protocols related to the coronavirus, the league announced today in a press release.

According to the announcement, the violation occurred when Irving attended a private indoor party last weekend. Presumably, this was the event – believed to be a family birthday party – captured on the video that surfaced online earlier this week. The league’s protocols prohibit players from attending indoor social gatherings of 15 or more people and from entering bars, lounges, or clubs.

While $50K isn’t a substantial loss for a player earning $33.46MM this season, the NBA also announced that Irving has been subject to a five-day quarantine period this week for his protocol violation, making him eligible to rejoin the Nets on Saturday, assuming he doesn’t record a positive COVID-19 test. He’ll forfeit salary for the games he missed during that quarantine period, according to the league.

Since the Nets’ Tuesday and Wednesday games happened during his quarantine period, Irving will be docked two game checks, Shams Charania of The Athletic confirms (Twitter link). As recently reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), each game missed due to a COVID-19 protocol violation costs a player 1/81.6th of his salary.

In Irving’s case, the result is about $410K per game in forfeited salary. Taking into account his fine and the two games he missed this week, Irving’s violation will cost him a total of approximately $870K.

Prior to this protocol violation, Irving had been away from the Nets for personal reasons, but it sounds like his leave is coming to an end. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Irving is expected to play for Brooklyn on Saturday as long as he’s cleared.

View Comments (42)