MIAMI — Kyrie Irving has refused to talk to the media since New York City’s mandate exemptions were lifted, allowing the Nets’ unvaccinated guard to play at home.

But Irving’s teammates, who will play Saturday at the first-place Heat, gushed over getting him back, admitting how much of a drain and distraction his part-time status has been.

“Long time coming,” said Kevin Durant, who admitted relief in finally being able to focus on basketball. “That’s the most important thing. That’s why we’re here. We get that distractions are a part of our game, but trying to eliminate them as much as possible. It’s good we can eliminate something as huge as this whole thing which has been lingering here for the whole season. So I’m glad we can move on.

“It’s great for continuity. It’s great that coming off the road we don’t have to worry about adjusting our lineups and our game plan’s not based on Kyrie not being there.”

On Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams announced Emergency Executive Order 62, which granted exemptions from the private-sector COVID-19 vaccine mandates that will allow unvaccinated athletes with New York City teams to play at home. Irving, who did not make his season-debut until Jan. 5 and has been a road-only part-time player since, will be allowed to make his season home debut Sunday against the Hornets.

“Yeah it’s great, we’re excited. Can’t wait to have him back for home games and for all our games,” coach Steve Nash said. “We’ve missed him and it’s nice that we can not only have him back at home but also gain some reps and continuity together. 

“We just are happy it’s over. We don’t have time to worry about anything other than we’ll have Kyrie at home now. … It’s positive in every sense of the word. We get to have him back, we don’t have to think about it, talk about it, worry about it. We’re moving forward, he’s able to play and it helps us in every way.”

Irving’s 119.7 offensive rating is the best among NBA players who have played at least five games. But the Nets are 30-23 without Irving this season and just 8-12 with him, so his in-out status not conducive to cohesion.

“Now you can get that continuity,” veteran guard Goran Dragic said. “The hardest part of this job especially for Steve is this season he had so many different lineups. It’s tough to build that consistency.

“And now, OK, it’s only nine games left, but still it means a lot that we’re going to see starting five and who’s coming from the bench, and … each game is going to be the same. So it’s going to give us a little bit more confidence that we know that we’ve got the best guys out there.”

Irving has played just 20 games and lost a huge chunk of his salary due to his refusal to get vaccinated.

When asked if it was fair that Irving paid a price, Durant shrugged and said, “Life ain’t fair.”

Irving has spoken about “standing with all those that believe what is right,” and ruing the fact that “people are losing jobs to mandates,” but it’s hard to ignore the fact that 1,430 city workers who were fired for staying unvaccinated won’t get their jobs back while Irving gets to suit up at Barclays Center for the Nets.

Irving, who has likened himself to Muhammad Ali (who lost several years of his career as a result of declaring himself a conscientious objector to military service), waited out the city, essentially playing Ali-style rope-a-dope and winning an odd situation.

“All of it’s weird. COVID is weird. It came out of nowhere,” Durant said. “It’s not the perfect situation for anybody. It’s crazy that people lost their jobs based off a vaccine, and people that stood on what they believed in and waited this process out now they’re able to work. It’s a weird situation. Nobody’s a winner in any of this.”

Well, the Nets hope to win because of Irving’s availability.

“Yeah, definitely,” Dragic said. “We have nine games left. We can try to win all nine games. That’d be nice. From there we’re going to see where this leads us to; with Kyrie back it’s going to help us prepare for the playoffs.”