New York, New York - The NBA has held its first media day and a notable name is missing from the Brooklyn Nets’ time in front of the cameras and microphones.

One of the Nets’ big three superstars, Kyrie Irving (29) was a no-show at Brooklyn’s media day, and that for the most part, is by his own choice.

At one time, he was on the record genuinely believing the earth is flat but more recently, he’s taken up the position that he doesn’t need a Covid-19 vaccine, like a good few other pro athletes.

New York City, is one of only two NBA cities to have enacted local proof of Covid-19 vaccination mandates for persons over 12 years of age inside "certain covered premises."

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Part of New York’s mandate requires New York City-based professional athletes to show proof of at least one vaccine shot to practice or play in the city. As far as the league is concerned, they have their own regulations that require each of their 30 teams to follow their respective home city’s vaccine mandates.

So, if any team personnel is unvaccinated going forward, they could be barred from any indoor team facility, from practice locations up to their home arena, and in some cases, also a road team’s arena.

In theory, if Irving remains unvaccinated, he could miss at least 41 out of his team's 82 games, including whichever road games are played in cities with similar mandates.

So far, this is just media day for the Nets. But then there are league training camps that start on Tuesday, followed by the regular season in three weeks.

These are all things that Irving could miss without taking a shot. He is expected to be with the team in San Diego this week for the team's training camp, team sources told ESPN.

Brooklyn’s first game of the 2021-22 NBA regular season is on October 3, against the LA Lakers.