In the wake of a report last week from ESPN’s Tim Bontemps indicating that the Celtics and Sixers might have unvaccinated players, Bontemps asked Jaylen Brown about his COVID-19 vaccination status and Brown refused to comment, saying he wouldn’t speak about his or anyone else’s status when it came to the vaccine (Twitter link via Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe).
Keith Smith of Spotrac and Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald have the full quote from Brown (Twitter links):
“Last year I missed the playoffs. This year, from a competitive standpoint, I’m excited and ready to play against anybody. As a vice president of the players association, it’s a part of my job description to protect our players’ rights and our medical privacy. So you won’t hear me commenting on my status or anybody else’s.”
This is notable because on January 15, Canada implemented a rule barring unvaccinated players from entering the country. If the Celtics face the Raptors in the playoffs, any Boston players who haven’t been vaccinated would be ineligible to cross the border to play in Toronto.
Last Monday, Boston kept four players out of action in its first game at Toronto since the new rule was implemented. It was the second night of a back-to-back, so their absences could have been unrelated to the border restrictions. The four were Robert Williams, Al Horford, Jayson Tatum and Brown.
Sources told Bontemps that Williams has received the vaccine, Horford later stated that he’d be “ready to play wherever,” and Tatum said on media day that he was vaccinated, but he defended people who chose not to be. Brown made a similar statement, saying the vaccine is a matter of choice.
The Celtics blew out the Wizards on Sunday afternoon by a score of 144-102, with Brown putting up 32 points (on 12-of-17 shooting), seven rebounds, five assists and two steals in 29 minutes. With Boston’s victory and Milwaukee falling to Dallas, the Celtics moved into second place in the East with a 49-30 record.
Boston closes its schedule with three road games against Chicago, Milwaukee and Memphis, so they won’t play in Toronto again unless the two teams meet in the playoffs. The Raptors are currently the fifth seed in the East with a 45-32 record.
🙄 here we go…
So brown like kyrie is willing to damage his team’s playoff chances for self. Using the guise of I’m a player rep is a sad excuse for not being man enough to answer the question honestly, in my opinion. Brown get vaccinated, its safe, effective and doesn’t hurt .
He didn’t say he wasn’t vaccinated. He said he respected people’s medical privacy. His respecting medical privacy doesn’t make him not a “man”.
People really get wound up about nothing these days.
If brown was vaccinated friend he would have no issue acknowledging it,his distracting with I’m a player rep is merely his way of saying I’m not.
Yup. You can be pro vaccine while still respecting Brown’s right to privacy.
Of course, the media doesn’t care about any of that. They already have and will continue to beat this story to death until there’s nothing left of it. Peak silliness.
Dude, don’t be naive. If he was vaxxed, he would have said ‘Yes’ and moved on. It’s not about ‘respecting medical privacy’, give me a break. He just doesn’t want to be exposed to scrutiny for not being vaxxed. It’s his choice, but come on now.
Possibly. But probably not a bad thing to keep Toronto in the dark in case they do meet up. It wouldn’t be until atleast game 3 of round 1 when it might matter.
Game planning is a bit tougher when you’re not sure who is going to show up.
I hope Browns vaxed for he and his teammates sake if they have to play on Toronto. If he’s not that’s a horrible precedent from the VP of the players union.
MIL outsmarting BOS as always, right now in the EC no one should be wanting to be #1-2 so losing is much better, BOS if finishes in the top 2 might very well regret it when they go home after R1EC (if they have to play BRK, of course)
Guys he has to be vax’d seeing he played at MSG in January when there was a requirement (same reason that kyrie couldn’t play)
No, visiting athletes and performers don’t have to be vaxed in NYC or at the Oracle it’s just home team players unlike Toronto.
Apprently that rule didnt apply to visiting players
Let’s reserve judgement. Since the NBA Players Association made a deal with the NBA that players didn’t have to be vaccinated & since Jaylen Brown is an officer he’s supporting the union’s right not to say whether he is or not.
But of course, those “scientists” here who are not vaccinated or disappointed in the vaccine need to vent.
I agree I wholeheartedly believe his statements are 100% just the “party line” of the players association. You can argue all you want about should they be promoting it or not but I truly believe Brown is simply doing what the Union decided was the party line and nothing more. Reading into it is purely just for talking heads to have something to talk about. He’ll be there in TOR should that match-up occur.
Agree on the validity of the “uinion leader” excuse.
At some point Brown should say whether he intends to show, if only for gamblers, who are people too. But no need now.
Bill Simmons acknowledged in his podcast that some of the most important Boston players aren’t vaccinated. So they have to stay away from Toronto
For the record, it was an exception to a law expiring that changed the border crossings.
Before vaccines were available everyone had to quarantine for two weeks to enter the country. There was an exception for athletes that was only temporary and ran until Jan 15 of this year. Since there was no a viable way to cross the border without quarantine, via vaccination, the exception was not extended.
And for the record there are similar rules to enter the U.S. for non citizens.