NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says New York needs to reconsider its current mandate for a vaccine that bans unvaccinated players from playing home games.
Silver called the reason for the reassessment the lack of requirements for visiting players.
“It’s surprising to me that this only applies to home players,” Silver said during a speech at Get up on ESPN. “If ultimately this rule concerns the protection of people who are in the arena, for me it just doesn’t make sense that an away player who isn’t vaccinated can play Barclays (Center) but a home player can’t. For me, this is the reason why they should look at this decision. “
So far so good New York Knicks players were fully vaccinated before the 2021-2022 campaign, Brooklyn Nets guard Caire Irving remains the loudest unvaccinated player in the league. He is currently only allowed to play road games outside of New York and Toronto.
A similar mandate, adopted in San Francisco, had an impact Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins earlier this season, but eventually the Canadian decided to get vaccinated so he could adapt to home games.
Silver added that he could imagine New York Mayor Eric Adams changing his current mandate to the vaccine, given that he was not in office when it was implemented. Adams said in November that the city’s mandate would remain the same, but he proposed an updated position on Wednesday.
“The rule is unfair,” Adams said Amanda Eisenberg of Politico.
He also said he was “struggling” with the decision to change the mandate because it could provoke mixed messages to the public.