The NBA on Friday denied Andrew Wiggins’ request for a COVID-19 vaccination exemption, leaving the Golden State Warriors swingman ineligible to play home games until he meets San Francisco’s vaccination requirement.
The ruling was announced hours after the New York Knicks said that their entire roster is vaccinated, making all their players eligible to play in their home games.
Wiggins is one of the highest-profile NBA players to publicly say that he will not take the vaccine.
Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY
“To each his own, really,” Wiggins said in March. “Whoever wants to get it can get it, whoever doesn’t want to get it, don’t get it.”
“Right now, I’m not getting it, but it’s no knock on anyone else that’s getting it,” he said. “I make my own decisions, but right now, I decided not to get it.”
The Warriors’ first home game of the regular season is against the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 21.
Because of local COVID-19 regulations in New York and San Francisco, the Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and Warriors are required to be vaccinated to play in their home arenas unless exemptions for medical or religious reasons apply.
Wiggins sought an exemption from the league for religious reasons.
“The NBA has reviewed and denied Andrew Wiggins’ request for religious exemption from the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s order requiring COVID-19 vaccination for all participants age 12 and older at large indoor events,” the league said in a statement. “Wiggins will not be able to play in Warriors home games until he fulfills the city’s vaccination requirements.”
The San Francisco Department of Public Health earlier on Friday said that there would be no exemption for anyone aged 12 or older at large indoor gatherings.
“Under the current order, if unvaccinated, they cannot enter indoor areas regardless of the reason they are unvaccinated and cannot test out of this requirement even if they have a medical or religious exemption,” it said in a statement.
Unvaccinated players are allowed to play this season, although the NBA has said that they will have to be tested daily on practice and travel days and at least once — possibly more — on game days, while fully vaccinated players will not be subject to daily testing.
However, the Knicks, Nets and Warriors face stricter rules because of their local regulations, which the NBA has told teams do not apply to clubs visiting them.
The Knicks were the first of those teams to say they have met the mandate.
“I’m proud to say that our organization — players, coaches and staff — are 100 percent vaccinated,” Knicks general manager Scott Perry said. “And I think it’s a credit to our players, too, in particular that they took this thing very seriously and took the responsibility to get that done.”
Nets general manager Sean Marks earlier this week said that a couple players would not yet be eligible, but he was confident everyone would be able to participate by the time the regular season begins on Oct. 19.
San Francisco’s mandate does not take effect until the middle of next month. Training camps are to open on Tuesday.
The NBA has struck agreements this off-season to have virtually all parties involved in games — referees, coaches, stat-crew workers and anyone else who will be in close proximity to players on or off the court in NBA arenas — vaccinated to participate.
The one exception: The players themselves, with the National Basketball Players’ Association rebuking all efforts from the NBA to mandate that they be vaccinated.
About 85%percent of players were vaccinated at the end of last season. The leaguewide figure is believed to have increased since.
Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk said that one player is completing his vaccine regimen. Everyone else on the roster has been vaccinated, as well as the entire coaching and front office staff.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau credited the Knicks’ medical staff for keeping the organization educated and aware about virus protocols.
Perry praised the players for acting on the information they were given, saying their decision to get vaccinated was unrelated to any rules.
“As an organization we’re obviously following laws and mandates for the league and state government, but a lot of this was internal, internally driven,” Perry said.
Additional reporting by AFP
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
RSS