Smith interrupted his vacation Thursday after Anthony Fauci’s Senate testimony forced him to reconsider athletes who opposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Aaron Rodgers, Novak Djokovic, Cole Beasley and Kirk Cousins made his list, but Smith reserved his strongest words for Irving. Smith acknowledged that his earlier attacks helped fuel the hostility Irving encountered while refusing vaccination during his turbulent Brooklyn Nets tenure. His reversal followed Fauci’s appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where the former federal health official repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment. Smith said Fauci’s refusal to answer questions gave him reason to reconsider people whose pandemic skepticism drew harsh condemnation.
New York City’s workplace mandate prevented Irving from playing home games until officials approved an exemption for athletes and performers in March 2022. Smith also revisited his own dangerous bout with COVID-19, which included double pneumonia and more than three weeks of serious illness.