Binding protocols, payroll deductions, sidelining … failing to be able to impose vaccination against COVID-19 on players, the NBA and its franchises will have tried everything to reach 100% injected before the start of the season Tuesday, without succeeding.
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A man embodies vaccine resistance in the North American Basketball League: Kyrie Irving, one of its big stars, member of the famous “Big3” (with Kevin Durant and James Harden) of the Brooklyn Nets, favorites to succeed the Milwaukee Bucks in awards.
Except the 29-year-old point guard is not only expected to not start the season, but might not play it at all. Because his leaders have removed him from the team, as long as he refuses the vaccination.
In New York City, to fight the pandemic, the municipality is banning unvaccinated people aged 12 and over from participating in large indoor public gatherings. Decree which therefore prevents the professional sportsmen concerned from training and playing home matches.
In the case of Irving, who refuses to be immunized, this represents at least 41 missed matches, not counting those of possible play-offs. But if they were able to convince the municipality to allow him to train, because their facilities are in a private building, the Nets ultimately did not accept that their star was “only partially available”.
This resounding decision is the culmination of the conflict between the NBA and vaccine-resistant, who have gone from 10% of the contingent before the preseason stages to 4%, according to various media.
Among these twenty players, most remain anonymous. Others have claimed their choice, such as Wizards star Bradley Beal, or Nuggets winger Michael Porter Jr, in no way penalized like Irving, their cities of Washington and Denver not having taken action similar to those in force in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, which therefore concern the Nets, Knicks, Warriors, Lakers and Clippers.
At Golden State, the Andrew Wiggins case demonstrated that pressure on players can work. After the NBA refused the religious argument brandished by the winger to refuse the vaccination, the latter finally decided to submit to it. To be able to play all matches, not just those away, and above all to receive all of your salary.
Because the League, in agreement with the players’ union (NBPA), has decided that those who miss matches because of their refusal to comply with local vaccination obligations would see their wages reduced. For Irving, as long as he stays in his position, that loss will amount to $ 381,000 per game.
Forcing players to be injected with the vaccine, the league has strongly thought about it. But it was met with the categorical refusal of the NBPA, of which Irving is one of the vice-presidents.
So, she put in place health protocols for the coming season, very restrictive for unvaccinated players, which range from daily tests to meals alone, through the possibilities of outings and very limited interactions with the outside. .
Neither these restrictions, nor the potential millions of dollars in lost earnings, nor his sidelining, did not bend Irving, who explained his choice: “I am not the lawyer of any camp . I do what is best for me. I know the consequences and if it means that I will be judged and demonized for it, so be it ”.
The tiny minority of unvaccinated in the NBA, of which he is the most famous representative, hardly reflects the overall situation in the United States, since at the last census, 42.7% of the population has not yet been immunized.
This led Michelle Roberts, future ex-director of the NBPA, anxious to avoid any stigmatization of the players, to pose the problem differently: “The real question is not to know why the vaccination is not compulsory in the NBA . The real question is how we can (across the country) emulate the players in the league ”.
Promoting it, as popular celebrities like Barack Obama in advertisements, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in an activist act or even recently Michael Jordan with more careful words, is an answer.
What refuses to bring LeBron James. The Lakers superstar, whose lobbying to convince blacks to vote for the presidential election last year helped elect Joe Biden, refused to encourage people to get vaccinated after he decided to do so. after having been skeptical for a long time.
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