The COVID-19 vaccine has a lot of NBA players and fans riled up, especially when you consider how some of the more prominent names in the league are against getting it. Kyrie Irving is perhaps the most famous player to hold this position, and as things stand, Kyrie won’t be able to play in Brooklyn if he holds firm on his position.
As for Andrew Wiggins of the Warriors, he is facing a similar fate, and recently, Draymond Green was asked about whether or not he would encourage Wiggins to get the shot. This led to a lengthy monologue in which Green said it simply wasn’t his business to do something like that and that at the end of the day, it is Wiggins’ choice as to whether or not he gets the shot or not.
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“That would be like Andrew — who everyone knows recently just had a kid maybe 5 months or so ago now — that would be like me telling him, ‘Yo, your wife is going into labor. How dare you leave this team and not go tend to your wife?'” Green said. “That’s something that’s personal to him. That’s something that’s health-related. That’s something that’s personal to his family. This is no different. We’re dealing with something that to me feels like has turned into a political war when you’re talking about vaccinated [people] and non-vaccinated [people]. I think it’s become very political.”
As it turns out, LeBron James was a big fan of this position as the Lakers star took to Twitter and said “Couldn’t have said it any better.” As one can imagine, LeBron’s tweet has gotten some backlash as many fans would rather him take a proactive role in educating people about the vaccine.
For now, 95 percent of the league is vaccinated, and numerous teams have 100 percent of their players vaccinated. These are certainly positive numbers to look at it, and overall, the NBA is still ahead of other leagues when it comes to vaccination rates.
[Via]