COVID-19

NBA players won’t be mandated to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, league sources tell Baxter Holmes and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The news doesn’t come as a major surprise. While other NBA personnel – including referees – are required to be fully vaccinated for the start of the season, imposing such a mandate on players would’ve meant negotiating the issue with the NBPA. That aspect of negotiations between the league and the players’ union has been considered a “non-starter,” per Holmes and Wojnarowski.

Although there won’t be a mandate in place, a league spokesperson recently said that about 85% of the NBA’s players are fully vaccinated, according to ESPN’s duo, and the league will continue to implement strict testing protocols for unvaccinated players.

Besides potentially having to eat and travel in different sections than their vaccinated teammates, unvaccinated players will be required to register one negative COVID-19 test on each practice or travel day and two negatives tests on each game day, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Fully vaccinated players won’t undergo regular coronavirus testing, Charania notes.

While most NBA players will still be able to play in games without being fully vaccinated, that won’t be the case for those based in cities like New York and San Francisco, where there are new laws about vaccinations for indoor gatherings. We outlined earlier this month how Knicks, Nets, and Warriors players would be affected by those regulations, and ESPN’s report today reiterates that the NBA will abide by those local vaccination requirements unless a player has an approved medical or religious exemption.

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.