Kyrie Irving spoke to the media on Wednesday for the first time since returning to the Brooklyn Nets after his extended absence over his vaccine status.

Irving is excited to return to the Nets, but did not signal a willingness to be vaccinated. 

“I knew the consequences," said Irving of not being vaccinated. "I wasn’t prepared for them, by no stretch of the imagination. “Coming into the season, I had my thought process of being able to be a full-time teammate and just go out and have fun and provide a great brand of basketball out there. But unfortunately, it didn’t happen like that.

“Things happen for a reason, and now we’re here and I’m just grateful for this.”

Irving will only be allowed to play in road games. 

Irving said he has been working out in middle-school and college gyms over the past few months.

The Brooklyn Nets have signed guard Shaquille Harrison to a second 10-day contract.

Harrison signed his first 10-day contract with Brooklyn on Dec. 18 and has appeared in two games with the Nets, posting averages of 2.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 11.3 minutes per game. Harrison has seen action in 175 career games (23 starts) across five seasons with Brooklyn, Denver, Utah, Chicago and Phoenix, recording averages of 5.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 15.2 minutes per contest while shooting 43.6 percent from the field. 

Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and LaMarcus Aldridge have cleared the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols. 

The Brooklyn Nets had a massive COVID-19 outbreak across its roster, with more than 10 players entering the protocols at the same time. The NBA postponed three straight games involving the Nets. 

The Nets will next play Thursday at home against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The first game Irving will be eligible to play will be Jan. 5 at the Indiana Pacers. 

Kyrie Irving will need a week or two to ramp up before making his 21-22 season debut. 

“With Kyrie, I’m not sure, but it’s coming. He’s already been in for eight days or more, so he should be,” Steve Nash said before Monday’s game with the Clippers in Los Angeles. “I’m not sure … how many days right now, but he’s got to be getting close.” 

Irving hasn't played since his June ankle injury, and hasn't practice since camp.

“I’d say probably somewhere between a week and two weeks,” Nash said. “He’s isolating, so that puts another layer to the ramp-up. It’s not like he’s been working out. I’d imagine it’s going to be closer to two weeks once he comes out of protocols. We’ll see how it goes, though, because we have to evaluate him from a physical and performance standpoint, and then a basketball standpoint as well.” 

The Brooklyn Nets are signing guard Langston Galloway to a second 10-Day contract via the hardship exception. Galloway's original 10-Day deal expired on Sunday.

In three games with the Nets, Galloway has played 15 minutes per contest and has averaged three points per game.

Brooklyn recently got James Harden, among others, out of the health and safety protocols. But the Nets are still without several players, including Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Kyrie Irving will not join the Brooklyn Nets on their two-game road trip to Southern California.

Irving entered the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols shortly after agreeing to a return to the Nets for road games.

Irving has to ramp up once he's cleared. The Nets haven't seen Irving on the court yet.

"No, we haven't," Nash said, when asked if he has seen Irving on the court yet. "He's still in protocols. And he needs ramp up, so we won't see Kyrie on this trip."

After these two upcoming games in Los Angeles, the Nets are not on the road again until Jan. 5 at Indiana. After that, they don't play another road game until Jan. 12 at Chicago.

Irving could make his debut On Jan. 17th at Cleveland. 

James Harden has been cleared to play against the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day after clearing the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving remain in the protocols and will not travel with the Brooklyn Nets to Los Angeles.

As of Friday morning, the Nets still had nine players in health and safety protocols, including Durant, Irving and LaMarcus Aldridge. Bruce Brown, James Johnson, Cam Thomas, David Duke Jr., Kessler Edwards and Day'Ron Sharpe also remain in health and safety protocols.

The NBA announced that Thursday's game featuring the Brooklyn Nets at the Portland Trail Blazers has been postponed. The league said the Nets do not have the required eight players to be able to play the game. This is the eighth postponed game this season.

This marks Brooklyn's third consecutive postponed game. At this point, it's unknown if the Nets game at the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day is in danger of being postponed or not.

The NBA recently sent the 10 Christmas Day teams notice that their game times may be shuffled if there are postponements. The league and their TV partners want to maximize the mid-day window for Christmas viewership.

With COVID outbreaks around the NBA, combined with injuries, several NBA teams are struggling to put competitive rosters on the court. As such, the NBA has postponed five games through Tuesday, December 21.

The postponed games are:

Denver Nuggets at Brooklyn Nets - Sunday, December 19

Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks - Sunday, December 19

New Orleans Pelicans at Philadelphia 76ers - Sunday, December 19

Orlando Magic at Toronto Raptors - Monday, December 20

Washington Wizards at Brooklyn Nets - Tuesday, December 21

This brings the total number of postponed games to seven. The league previously postponed two Chicago Bulls games against the Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors.

The NBA and NBPA are continuing talks on increased roster sizes, as well as lack of cap/tax penalties when a player is signed via hardship.

The NBA has postponed the Brooklyn Nets and Denver Nuggets game scheduled for Sunday. The Nets have 10 players in the health and safety protocols and two other players injured. The Nuggets are down six players due to injury and illness.

The league previously postponed the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers game scheduled for Sunday.

Nets-Nuggets is the fourth game postponed this season.