Speculation about Kyrie Irving, Individual Choice, and the Law of Contracts

Kyrie Irving seems to be stuck between a rock (that is, a basketball) and a hard place (that is, the law).  Mr. Irving is a very talented basketball player.  His team, the Brooklyn Nets, is subject to the laws of New York City, which prohibit unvaccinated people from playing at sporting events in the city.  The team, enforcing either its own rules or NBA rules, has gone further, and suspended Mr. Irving from practicing with the team or playing at other NBA venues not subject to a vaccine mandate.  

Mr. Irving, as far as I can tell, has no religious objections to vaccines.  He suffers from no medical condition that would place him at risk of having a bad reaction to a vaccine.  Rather, his stance seems to draw on the view that he has a right to control over what is done to his body.   He doesn’t want to get vaccinated, and so he will resist team requirement, league requirements, and city ordinances that require him to get vaccinated if he wants to  keep his job.  He claims to be standing up on behalf of all people who are out there bravely resisting government mandates.  Many of them do not have the luxury of waiting things out.  Many of them need to keep their jobs, and so they will give in and get vaccinated.  Mr. Irving likely has enough money in the bank that he can afford to take this principled stand.  Perhaps he will sit out until the pandemic ends.  Perhaps he will sue and demand either pay or reinstatement.  He may well be right that the people who share his views but lack his options will appreciate his willingness to make sacrifices for them.  

But his contractual rights