COVID-19 vaccines continue to roll out across the country, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver expects that most players will get vaccinated when available. LeBron James spoke about this to reporters on Sunday before the NBA All-Star game and didn’t give a straight answer when asked if he would get the vaccine.
“That’s a conversation that my family and I will have. Pretty much keep that to a private thing,” James said, as reported by CBS Sports. “Obviously, I saw Adam had his comments about the vaccination. But things like that, when you decide to do something, that’s a conversation between you and your family and not for everybody. I’ll keep it that way.” The one thing to note is that the NBA is not mandating its players to get vaccinated to play the rest of the season. However, Silver is planning on the majority of players getting vaccinated soon.
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“My hunch is that most players ultimately will choose to get vaccinated,” Silver stated, as reported by ESPN. “They have to make personal decisions at the end of the day – and I take that very seriously, and I take concerns very seriously. But my sense is most [players] will, ultimately, decide it is in their interest to get vaccinated.” Silver explained that players who get vaccinated would have an easier time playing this season. But even without the vaccines, Silver believes the NBA can finish the season without any major issues.
“I think it is realistic, even if we didn’t have required vaccinations because, of course, no one – none of the players – have been vaccinated now, and we’ve only had to postpone a relatively small percentage of games,” Silver said. “We know that for the most part, a testing protocol, together with mask-wearing and all the other precautions we’re taking, largely works. The NCAA tournament will be played this year, and again, without vaccinations for their players. To me, we’ll make additional progress if players get vaccinated, but it certainly doesn’t require that they all get vaccinated.”
The NBA is coming off All-Star Weekend, and no players and coaches tested positive for COVID-19. James was against playing the all-star game due to the pandemic, but he also wanted the players to rest during the all-star break instead of traveling and playing an exhibition game.
