Nets don't expect issues meeting New York vaccine mandates

NEW YORK (AP) — Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks said Tuesday he doesn't anticipate any Nets being unable to play because of vaccination rules when the NBA season begins next month.

Marks said the entire roster wouldn't currently be eligible to play in New York, but the Nets don't open their season until Oct. 19.

“Regarding if they could play today, I can’t comment on who could play and so forth,” Marks said. “There would obviously be a couple people missing from that picture — I won’t get into who it is — but we feel confident in the following several days before camp everybody would be allowed to participate.”

The NBA told teams that because of local regulations in New York and San Francisco, players on the Nets, Knicks and Golden State Warriors would need to be vaccinated without exemptions for medical or religious reasons.

The Nets will open training camp next Tuesday in San Diego and won't play in New York until their exhibition home opener on Oct. 8 against Milwaukee.

Marks said privacy laws prevented him from discussing the details, but said the Nets had been having organizational conversations about getting vaccinated.

“Those are individual decisions, whether it’s a staff member or a player has to come to terms with. It’s obviously out of our control,” Marks said.

“We are supporting getting the vaccination and putting out a healthy squad. So at this point, I think we’re ready to go into the season. We don’t see these — whether it’s a city-wide mandate or it's a league mandate to follow — being any sort of hindrance to us putting out a team.”

Marks added that James Harden and Kyrie Irving, who were both injured during last season's second-round playoff loss to NBA champion Milwaukee, were healthy. He expects talks on contract extensions with both players to pick up once the team is together for camp.

The Nets already inked their other superstar, Kevin Durant, to an extension in August.

They were also busy adding to the team around them, bringing back LaMarcus Aldridge after he was cleared to return following last season's retirement because of a heart condition. They also signed veterans Patty Mills and Paul Millsap.

“So we added three veterans with high IQ and high character, and that’s always a really positive thing for the coaching staff,” coach Steve Nash said.

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