The NBA facing COVID-19: between Vax and Antivax, freedom and responsibility, players must decide and assume

Wednesday, September 29, 2021. The NBA is back to school with training camps starting and Media Day which took place on Monday and Tuesday. The Great League is therefore preparing for the resumption, with a 2021-22 regular season which is due to start on October 19. But while the NBA is experiencing a return to normality overall, particularly in terms of its annual schedule, the specter of COVID continues to hover over the League, especially as a minority of NBA players are still reluctant to to get vaccinated, some of them even being totally against it.

COVID update as of September 29, 2021

With less than a month to go before the 2021-22 regular season begins, 90% of NBA players are fully vaccinated. This figure was reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic a few days ago, which tells us that the vaccination rate has recently accelerated with the opening of training camps on Tuesday. With nine out of ten players who now have the anti-COVID vaccine, we can imagine a less disrupted season than the one we experienced in 2020-21, where the formula "health and safety protocols" was omnipresent. Players placed in the health protocol, decimated teams, postponed matches, empty stands… it was everyday life in the NBA when COVID was most severe, especially at the start of the calendar year. Hopefully this will all be a thing of the past. This season, health restrictions will be much more flexible for vaccinated players, and teams with a 100% vaccination rate should be able to move forward with a semblance of serenity that did not exist for anyone last season. Several franchise leaders, such as Rob Pelinka of the Lakers, Scott Perry of the Knicks or Sam Presti of the Thunder, have already said that their workforce was completely vaccinated or will be for the start of the regular season.

Others, on the other hand, had no choice but to admit the opposite. This was the case, for example, of Sean Marks, general manager of the Nets, who recently indicated that several of his players would be unavailable because of their vaccination status if the season started today. It is recalled that the Brooklyn franchise is a special case, as it is one of the three NBA teams affected – along with the Knicks and the Warriors – by local restrictions which will prevent non-vaccinated people aged 12 or over from participating in major events. indoors, like NBA games. Translation, players playing in the New York and San Francisco markets will not be able to play home games (41 out of 82) if they are not vaccinated, which is still not trivial. The 27 other NBA teams potentially with unvaccinated players will not be deprived of them for home games, but these players will have to follow a much stricter health protocol, as indicated by The Athletic (protocol valid for all franchises ). How many unvaccinated players are there in the NBA today? A good fifty if we are to believe the latest figures reported by the League. It is obviously a minority out of the 450 who make up the NBA today, but a minority to be convinced in order to be able to live the most normal season possible despite a COVID which is still there. No small feat for franchises and the NBA, with some clearly opposed to vaccination.

Unvaccinated who speak out

Unlike other members of the NBA universe, such as referees, coaches and also franchise employees, NBA players are not required to be vaccinated in order to play, apart from specific cases concerning Nets, Knicks and Warriors as said above. During discussions with the League this summer on the subject of COVID, this was a "non-negotiable" point in view of the upcoming season. If there is one request from the NBA that the players' union did not want to accept, it is compulsory vaccination. It is one thing to have to respect a strict health protocol to prevent the spread of the virus, it is another to impose vaccination. It is in this mindset that the NBPA – guided by CJ McCollum – approached the negotiations, pushed by several reluctant to vaccination or downright anti-vax.

In the clan of unvaccinated players, we have the young Magic winger Jonathan Isaac. According to a long piece by Matt Sullivan on Rolling Stone, Isaac not only refuses to go to the doctor but he also does not understand the rules of social distancing put in place by the NBA between vaccinated and non-vaccinated players, being given that they will all share the same floor in the end.

Jonathan Isaac, who had distinguished himself in the Orlando bubble by standing during the national anthem with his Magic jersey while all his colleagues – “Black Lives Matter” T-Shirt on the shoulders – had a knee on the sol, doesn't seem to trust the scientists who developed the vaccine, nor doctors like White House immunologist Anthony Fauci. “At the end of the day, they are only humans. You can never completely trust other humans. If the Rolling Stone article is to be believed, instead of getting vaccinated, Isaac preferred to do his own research instead, listening to former US President Donald Trump's press conferences while studying the history of African-Americans in the United States, a history marked in particular by the 1932 episode with the Tuskegee (Alabama) Study on Syphilis, a study that lasted four decades and in which black men were used as "guinea pigs ". Preferring to refer to God, whom he very often mentions in his tweets and other speeches, Jonathan Isaac regrets the criticisms that are sent towards the non-vaccinated. He also does not understand the compliments that are paid to those who decide to take the plunge. For him, everyone is free to be vaccinated or not, regardless of whether anti-COVID vaccines represent, according to scientists, the way out of this health crisis which drags on. During the Orlando Magic's Media Day on Monday, Isaac spoke out about the Rolling Stone article and denied much of its content, but confirmed his unvaccinated status. He also confessed that he had contracted COVID in the past, developing antibodies, and that this now plays into his decision not to get vaccinated.

Another NBA player whose religion is an integral part of his life, namely Enes Kanter, believes that personal beliefs should not go against public health gestures in such a crisis. Rather, they should co-exist (via Rolling Stone): "If a guy doesn't get vaccinated because of his religion, then I think we're at a time where religion and science have to go together. The vaccine saves lives, what is more important than that? »

Kyrie Irving's name is also mentioned several times in Rolling Stone's long paper. If his vaccination status has not been officially communicated, everything seems to indicate that Uncle Drew has not yet received his vaccine, he who was absent from the Media Day of the Nets on Monday because of the health protocol in place in New York City ( he answered questions via Zoom). As he evolves in Brooklyn, it is a file which gains in importance since Kyrie could miss all the games of his team at home. Sanctioned by the NBA last season for having violated the League's health protocol (he had organized a birthday party without respecting anti-COVID instructions during his absence for "personal reasons", just after the events at the Capitol last January ), Irving reportedly validated several vaccine-related conspiracy theories on social media, according to Matt Sullivan. Among them ? Hang on. "Irving recently started following and liking posts on Instagram about a conspiracy theory that claims secret companies are setting up the vaccine to connect black people to a pilot computer as part of 'Satan's plan'" . wow. Conspiracy theories and the spread of bad information on social networks have been numerous since the start of the pandemic. But Kyrie Irving is one of the biggest stars in the NBA as well as the vice-president of the executive committee of the NBPA, which necessarily gives a great resonance to his voice. According to Rolling Stone, which is based on numerous interviews with players, managers and employees working in US basketball halls, this kind of talk would have spread like a virus within the NBA universe, within certain dressing rooms as in different conversations between players. Notably renowned for having declared that "the Earth is flat" a few years ago, Kyrie is as much an exceptional basketball player as a controversial figure within the League. And this episode is not going to change the perception that some may have of him in the NBA universe.

Another big name that can be put in the camp of the unvaccinated, Bradley Beal. The Wizards star guard, who saw the coronavirus severely disrupt the Washington franchise at the start of last season and missed the Olympics after testing positive, took to Media Day to share his views on COVID and the vaccine . In a similar tone to Jonathan Isaac, Beal said it was a personal decision, before questioning the value of the vaccine itself.

How to Take Care of Naughty Kids https://t.co/0Aslc50dRb https://t.co/Hzp9ycsg0B

— Chief Manel Tue Jan 22 22:38:27 +0000 2019

When a reporter tried to explain to him that the vaccine reduced the chances of catching COVID and developing a severe form of the disease, the Wizards star continued in his reasoning.

If he does not rule out getting vaccinated in the future, "because forced in a certain way by NBA protocols", Bradley Beal got his message across. He also added that “nobody wanted to talk about the serious reactions that the vaccine could cause”. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, the serious adverse effects that may have been revealed after vaccination are anaphylaxis (2 to 5 people affected per million vaccinated), thromboses (47 cases out of 14.8 million doses for the J&J/Janssen vaccine), and myocarditis (40.6 cases out of a million second doses of messenger RNA vaccines in men aged 12 to 29, 2.4/1,000 for men over 30). 8,124 cases of death out of 390 million doses administered in the USA between December 14, 2020 and September 27, 2021 (0.021% of deaths among vaccinated people) have also been reported, without being able to confirm that they were directly linked to the vaccine.

Following numerous reactions on social networks, Bradley Beal wanted to clarify his remarks on Tuesday, the opening day of training camp, by first explaining that he was not eligible for the vaccine at the moment (according to him , he has to wait 60 days after testing positive to be able to get vaccinated), then stating that “vaccines are not a bad thing”.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 'The unvaccinated shouldn't be allowed to play'

Recently rewarded by having the NBA Trophy for Social Justice named in his honor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a legend greatly respected in the NBA for his accomplishments on and off the court. KAJ is often seen as the voice of reason when it comes to activism and engagement on topics that go beyond basketball, as may be the case with COVID. Vaccinated and not hesitating to take responsibility for carrying a public service message in favor of vaccination, Kareem is not tender with players who refuse to be vaccinated. Excerpts, via Rolling Stone.

For Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, all players should not only get vaccinated, but he also asks the big names in the League and even others to take responsibility for highlighting the importance of vaccination. And he regrets that few stars take the plunge.

Everyone can have a different view of the responsibility of athletes as role models, even more so in the unique case of COVID, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sets the bar high, and it's not very surprising when you know his personal history. KAJ would also like athletes, especially those from ethnic minorities, to come forward – in contrast to anti-vaxers – to change the stereotype that still exists about “imbecile athletes who are unable to follow verified scientific information”.

This is specifically the question that was posed to LeBron James by a reporter during the Lakers' Media Day on Tuesday: "Don't you think the problem is big enough for someone as important as you to position themselves in favor of the vaccine? ". We know the influence of the King, we know that he is rather the type to express himself on many subjects beyond the framework of basketball. But in this specific case, LeBron believes that "it's not his job" to convince others to get vaccinated, even if he himself decided to take the plunge after showing "skepticism".

What's next?

Less than a month from the start of the 2021-22 regular season, several questions dominate in relation to COVID. The first is obviously that which concerns the rate of vaccination. Can it increase further over the next three weeks? We say to ourselves that with the training camps which are starting, the next campaign which is fast approaching and the difference in protocols between the vaccinated and the non-vaccinated, some reluctant people could end up taking the plunge. The NBA is not said to reach the vaccination rate of the WNBA (the professional women's basketball league in the United States), which is 99%, but the current figure of 90% could be a bit higher by the end of October 19. However, what about those who are today opposed to the anti-COVID vaccine for different reasons? We were talking about Jonathan Isaac, Kyrie Irving and Bradley Beal above, Andrew Wiggins of the Warriors is another example, he who also plays in a market (San Francisco) where local restrictions could deprive him of home games. Unvaccinated, Wiggins applied for a waiver from the NBA to play anyway. For information, two exceptions exist today to obtain a justification for its non-vaccinated status, namely religious and sanitary (if there is a contraindication linked for example to a risk of allergy, etc.). But it is the NBA that analyzes the file and decides whether or not to grant this exemption. In the case of Wiggins, who requested an exception based on religious grounds, the League clearly said no.

One imagines that the NBA, which did not succeed in imposing vaccination on its players and which had to lie down on several requests from the latter under the impetus in particular of the non-vaccinated (no more obligation for the non-vaccinated to be separated from the group when traveling, non-compulsory tests on rest days when it was envisaged at the base, etc.), will not give a gift to those who request a derogation. What push the anti-vax to use different means of pressure to achieve their ends? Can a player like Kyrie Irving really decide not to follow the restrictions imposed by New York City, and refuse to play games in Brooklyn all season?

On Monday's Nets Media Day, Kyrie didn't reveal much, responding to questions about his vaccination status with "please respect my privacy."

Clearly, the unvaccinated players have gained influence and managed to make themselves heard despite being in the minority. Now, with the season soon to begin, we will have to follow the evolution of the situation. As we saw during Media Day, the vaccination status of players is one of the big topics of the moment in the NBA. And questions will continue to be asked, especially on the side of Golden State and Brooklyn and teams that do not have a 100% vaccination rate, such as the Celtics for example if we are to believe Rolling Stone. These teams therefore have a higher risk of seeing their campaign disrupted by COVID, and their chances of playing leading roles could thus be reduced, not to mention the friction and discrepancies that this can potentially cause within a group. between vaccinated and unvaccinated. According to ESPN's Baxter Holmes, there is already tension and concern among some franchise members who are being forced into vaccinations, versus players who refuse to get vaccinated.

The 2021-22 NBA season must be that of a return to normal, with a COVID as little present as possible and a campaign that takes place without major hitches linked to the coronavirus. We know the sporting and financial issues that accompany a season. However, the resistance of some players to vaccination could disrupt their respective teams and therefore the product offered by the NBA, which is renowned for being one of the most progressive leagues in the world. In such a context, the Director of the players' union Michele Roberts wanted to react by recalling that the vaccination rate of NBA players (90%) is today much higher than the national average in the States (56%). “The real story is not 'why players don't have to get vaccinated', but 'how can you imitate NBA players'. »

Text source: Rolling Stone / The Athletic / ESPN