Photo courtesy of Corey Sipkin
John Kim
Sports Columnist
NBA champion and former Boston Celtics star Kyrie Irving has been involved in a month-long holdout with the management of the Brooklyn Nets over the past few months. The reason for the disagreement: his vaccination status.
The NBA recently instituted a mandate requiring team staff and referees to get vaccinated, while players can remain unvaccinated under certain guidelines, such as daily testing and distance from the vaccinated players in the locker room. On top of that, local guidelines in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco prevent players on the Nets, Warriors, Lakers, Clippers, and Knicks from entering the arena. Kyrie Irving is currently a member of the Nets.
Although more than 90% of the NBA is vaccinated, a small portion of players seems to be holding out. One player, Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards, explained himself by saying, “I would like an explanation to people with vaccines. Why are they still getting COVID? If that’s something we’re supposed to highly be protected from, that’s funny that it only reduces your chances of going to the hospital. It doesn’t eliminate anyone from getting COVID.”
Another player, Jonathan Isaac, gives a different reason. “I understand that the vaccine would help if you have COVID, you’ll be able to have less symptoms from contracting it, but with me having COVID in the past and having antibodies, with my current age group and physical fitness level, it’s not necessarily a fear of mine. Taking the vaccine, like I said, would decrease my chances of having a severe reaction, but it does open me up to the, albeit rare chance, but the possibility of me having an adverse reaction to the vaccine itself.”
However, the most standout example of this is Kyrie Irving. He said on an Instagram live stream that “nobody should be forced to do anything with their bodies.” Irving is a key player on the Nets, one that many say will determine if they win a championship this year. His teammates have tried to convince him to take the vaccine so he can play but to no avail. As a result, the Nets organization decided to ban Kyrie from any team activity until he decides to get vaccinated.
There are a wide variety of reasons why these players choose not to get vaccinated, but at the end of the day, there have been no reported cases of missed playing time due to COVID-19 vaccine side effects, according to The New York Times.
