The NBA season is about to start, and as is the case for a while now, COVID-19 is still a massive issue. Vaccination is the only way to go about the problem, and NBA wants its players fully vaccinated.
Talking about this, the NBA spokesman Mike Bass stated that players who are not vaccinated will be forced to miss the games. Missing the games is not the only punishment for the players. They will also be stripped of their wages for any and all matches they miss due to not being vaccinated. The teams will suffer because they will miss their players, and the players will feel the pain in their pockets.
The matter is now official, and the beat writers who follow NBA closely already tweeted about this. Shams Charania, who is one of the most respected NBA insiders tweeted the following message: “NBA spokesman Mike Bass: “Any player who elects not to comply with local vaccination mandates will not be paid for games that he misses.”
NBA spokesman Mike Bass: "Any player who elects not to comply with local vaccination mandates will not be paid for games that he misses."
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 29, 2024
If you didn’t know, the NBA salaries are paid out after each match. The player signs a contract for the targeted amount, and the same amount is divided into the number of games during the season. This principle is in place, in case a player is suspended by the team or by the league for the number of games, all of the parties involved know how much will he be fined. If you miss a large piece of the game throughout the season you can lose a big part of your salary.
The biggest issue in this stance of the league is for those players playing in the states of New York or California. The COVID-19 measures there is no joke, and non-vaccinated players, fans, or staff can not be present at the game venue. What this means for players of teams such as the Brooklyn Nets or Los Angeles Lakers is that they would be forced to miss all home games. That’s like half of your salary for the upcoming season. Interestingly the two biggest anti-vaxxers play for teams from these states.
So, the teams in jeopardy are Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets, and New York Knicks. The two players we mentioned are Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins. If they fail to get vaccinated before the season starts they are about to lose $17.5 million, and $15.8 million respectively. This is what Tommy Beer tweeted on the situation:” So there it is… Andrew Wiggins will forfeit $15.8 MILLION this season if he refuses to get vaccinated. Kyrie Irving will forfeit $17.5 million if he chooses not to get vaccinated.”
So there it is…
Andrew Wiggins will forfeit $15.8 MILLION this season if he refuses to get vaccinated.
Kyrie Irving will forfeit $17.5 million if he chooses not to get vaccinated. https://t.co/EQpdiSOeQk
— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) September 29, 2024
To make things interesting or even fun, the league installed these rules for players playing for home teams in the named states. For the visiting players, the rules do not apply. Bobby Marks had a thing or two to say about this: “Why should unvaccinated players on a visiting team be allowed to play in New York or San Francisco? Hypothetical: Kyrie Irving cannot but Bradley Beal when he plays the Nets can? How does that make sense?”
Why should unvaccinated players on a visiting team be allowed to play in New York or San Francisco?
Hypothetical: Kyrie Irving cannot but Bradley Beal when he plays the Nets can?
How does that make sense?
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) September 29, 2024
The two sides are currently locking horns, and considering how few non-vaccinated players there are, they’re losing this battle. But, at the moment, both Wiggins and Irving are holding their ground and are not backing down on their initial stance regarding the vaccine. This is interesting, especially when you know that Irving is about to lose $400,000 per home game he isn’t playing.
Nicola Holder