The NBA is facing a conundrum less than a month from the start of the 2021-22 season because some major stars still refuse to get vaccinated.
Some players believe the NBA is employing a scare tactic by issuing the statement that unvaxxed players will not get paid if they miss games this season.
Most prominent of the vaccine holdouts are Brooklyn Nets’ superstar shooting guard Kyrie Irving and Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins. It has been reported by Sports Illustrated on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021, that Denver Nuggets rising star Michael Porter Jr. also admitted that he “doesn’t feel comfortable” taking the vaccine.
The rule came down from NBA spokesman Mike Bass on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, and some players will not directly address their vaccine status with reporters.
Irving took pains to be gracious when said he “prefers to keep that stuff private.”
“Living in this public sphere, there’s a lot of questions about what’s going on in the world of Kyrie, and I would love to just keep that private and handle that the right way with my team and go forward with a plan,” Irving added on the Zoom call.
Wiggins was more blunt and succinct in his answer by telling the media that “it’s none of your business.”
After pausing, Wiggins then said, according to Sports Illustrated: “I’m just going to keep fighting for what I believe and for what I believe is right. What’s right to one person, isn’t right to the other and vice versa.”
Despite these prominent holdouts, NBA Players Association executive director Michele Roberts told the press that more than 90 percent of the league’s players are fully vaccinated.
