NBA players make the news for their exploits on the court a lot of the time, but sometimes, they go viral for non-basketball reasons. Andrew Wiggins is a former No. 1 pick that has recently been in the news for refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19.
It has previously been reported that the Golden State Warriors were growing “increasingly concerned” about Andrew Wiggins’ availability due to him not taking the vaccine for COVID-19. It seems as though the concern stemmed from San Francisco’s COVID-19 laws, as mentioned in the article.
The NBA is not requiring its players to be vaccinated, but if a local jurisdiction requires vaccination to enter an arena, then an unvaccinated player must get a religious or medical exemption from the league to play on his home court.
One way Andrew Wiggins could have been exempt from the laws is by getting a religious exemption from the NBA. However, that is no longer an option, as it has been announced that his request for such an exemption has been denied by the league. The news was reported by Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
The NBA has officially denied Andrew Wiggins’ request to get a religious exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine. pic.twitter.com/ko4VNkH9CL
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) September 24, 2021
The statement reiterates that with this inability to get the exemption, “Wiggins will not be able to play in Warriors home games until he fulfills the city’s vaccination requirements”. It remains to be seen what Andrew Wiggins and the Golden State Warriors will do from this point onwards.
Losing Wiggins for home games would definitely hurt the Warriors on the basketball side of things. He is the starting small forward for the Warriors, as well as their primary perimeter defender and supplementary scorer. The Golden State Warriors are intending to contend for the championship this season with Klay Thompson’s return, but that goal is now at risk due to this recent development. Missing your small forward for 41 games is never a good thing. Hopefully, a resolution to this situation comes soon.
