Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
The NBA has been battling with the players accepting a vaccine mandate since last season. While coaches and team staff have been made to take the vaccine, the NBA cannot enforce such a rule on the players. As a result, the players are accountable to the cities they play basketball in to be allowed to play.
Bradley Beal played the season in Washington despite not getting the vaccine because the state allowed him to do so. He eventually got the vaccine later in the season. Kyrie Irving couldn’t play basketball for the Nets until late in the season as New York had a vaccine mandate in place. Andrew Wiggins had to get the vaccine to play for the Golden State Warriors in California.
Most US states had made exemptions for visiting athletes not requiring the vaccine to play, so most players could play their season uninterrupted without the vaccine unless they caught the disease or played in states that mandated the vaccine.
Canada has different rules about COVID and vaccines, not allowing anyone in the country that isn’t vaccinated. As a result, unvaccinated players cannot play against the Toronto Raptors in Canada. This policy will continue for the 2022-23 season, as the NBA informed all its teams yesterday.
This means that players like Kyrie will still not be able to play against the Raptors even though New York has lifted their mandate, The Philadelphia 76ers could not play Matisse Thybulle during their playoff series against Toronto because of his vaccination status.
The vaccine mandate has to be respected based on the states and countries that are enforcing them. There is no point in complaining as Canada is holding foreign athletes to the same standard it would to regular travelers going into the country. Even though the NBA is an American league, they have a Canadian team and this is a rare instance of a Canadian rule preventing American athletes from playing regularly.
.