The NBA’s proposed health and safety protocols for the upcoming season will have much different requirements for vaccinated and unvaccinated players, according to Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
The new rules, which are still being negotiated with the players union, are outlined in a memo the league sent to its teams. They would require players who have not gotten the vaccine to have their lockers as far away as possible from vaccinated teammates. They will also be placed in separate sections during meals, flights and bus rides.
Vaccinated players would no longer be required to have daily tests for the virus and will only be subject to testing if they exhibit symptoms or are exposed to someone who has tested positive. Their unvaccinated counterparts must be tested on any days with games or practices and may have to be tested twice on some days.
Those who haven’t been vaccinated will still be subject to a mandatory seven-day quarantine if they have close contact with a person who tests positive. Vaccinated players likely won’t have to deal with a quarantine as long as they don’t return a positive test.
Unvaccinated players won’t be permitted to sit with their unvaccinated teammates and must be at least six feet away during meals and team meetings. During team flights, the unvaccinated may have to sit in a section of the plane with staff members, and on bus trips, they will have to be separated from other players and may be required to take a separate bus.
Some of the restrictions may be relaxed for unvaccinated players who have recovered from the virus within the past six months, Windhorst and Bontemps add. The NBA also hopes to have all players tested for COVID-19 antibodies during their preseason physicals.
I’m not a scientist but this “protocol” makes no sense whatsoever.
Shot or no shot you’re never completely protected, it’s not right to separate teammates just bc one has it and the other doesn’t. Chemistry is gonna be messed up this year so it’ll be interesting to see how players are gonna handle this
Based on sociological stats, is it fair to say the majority of the players come from groups with some vaccine hesitancy? And if so, couldn’t that make these policies somewhat (…r-word)?
Silver ain’t cut from the same cloth as your average NBA player, but he must feel fine issuing such a mandate from his ivory tower. How he fails to see the optics of segregated lunch tables and buses—yikes!
No, that makes this policy sensible. Players who refuse to get vaccinated at this point are not good teammates, frankly. These are all athletes, in good health, with no history of immune-compromised disease. The vaccine won’t hurt them, but getting COVID will, and likely will put them out of comission for a considerable part of the season. In baseball the players who have gotten COVID have seen their production plummet when they get back.
These guys are a considerable investment on the part of the teams, and vaccines should be MANDATORY, period. The NBA is really coddling these millionaires – if you want to be part of an elite league, there are rules, and this should be one of them. Sick of seeing this namby-pambyism.
And the idea that “based on sociological data” some people are less likely to get the vaccine that this is somehow racist is pure nonsense. The single most correlated factor to non vaccination is education level and income level. Since these players are all part of the top 1% income wise, I guess it’s the fact that most of them have one leisurely year of college after what was probably a coddled high school career. There is no science any more that supports not getting the shot.
This rule discriminates only against stupidity.
Hahaha namby-pambyism from a guy who admits these are top-of-their health guys in their 20’s and 30’s who are (according to The Science) 99% unlikely to be negatively affected by what amounts to them sniffles and a cough. Thanks for the reply!
Man you have to wonder how this “back of the bus” mentality is going to go over.
Medical fascism to create us and the others is a policy that is doomed to fail and create far more problems than an actual covid outbreak on a team, premier human beings who work on their health non stop should not be forced to listen to rules from monarchs who sit down all day making up rules
Unfortunately for these athletes, they are employed by said “monarchs” who are more worried about profits than the well being of their players. So they will jump through any hoops necessary to keep their attendance numbers high and players on the court.
The NBA has a stronger player union than any other team sport in the country. You talk as if these guys are being treated like serfs toiling for meager salaries like most professional athletes had to back in the 1950’s and 1960’s (even more so before then).
Really? Fascism? Do you actually know the definition of the term? This is not fascsim in any sense of the term, there is no fear being used to force people to vaccinate.
“People who work on their health all day” wtf are you talking about? Exercising and lifting weights cannot protect you from a virus.
I propose that we should ostracize all people who do not have enough social concern to follow safety precautions to be exiled to an island where they can live a “free” life where they infect each other and can bury all the bodies too.
So, so sick of the selfish babies in this country who proclaim their patriotism but are not even willing to sacrifice minimally for the sake of others.
“Monarchs”? Where do you get this stuff? These are all very well-paid entertainers, and the job they have is a privilege that many, many others would be happy to have.
Not entirely sure how/why they can require coaches, refs and others to be vaccinated but not players.
Makes zero sense to let them practice with each other and play games together, then separate them in locker rooms, buses and planes.
Agreed. Any non vaccinated players should have to sit home until they get a shot, period, without pay – that is what is happening all over the country for most workers who are the ones who buy tickets. Man up and stop being so afraid of a momentary prick in the arm.
Stop being so afraid of these superhuman athletes getting the chills and a runny nose.