The impact of COVID on the whole world for the last 2 and a half years has been incredible and far-reaching. Considering all the things that were affected by it, basketball seems like a very small thing. However, the world of basketball was shaken up because of COVID and is still reeling from its effects.
A title was won in a bubble, and league-wide vaccinations were required by almost all coaches, executives, and staff. The ones that the NBA exempted from a vaccine mandate were the players that had to answer to the states they played in. One of those players was Kyrie Irving, who sat out most of the 21-22 season because of his refusal to get vaccinated in New York, where vaccines had been mandated for work.
Gilbert Arenas was asked if he could imagine Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan sitting out games because of a vaccine, to which Arenas gave a pretty funny response.
“I can’t answer that correctly. I know that they wouldn’t have missed no games. Would they have gotten a vaccine? Don’t know. Would they have faked vaccine cards? Probably?”
“He put it out there so much that he is against it that even if he got a fake one or they tried giving him a fake one, a card just to give it to him. You’ve gotta remember, LA and New York were the only 2 states that needed it.”
Faking a vaccine card probably wouldn’t have worked in the modern NBA, as the league went out of its way to ensure COVID safety was practiced. Irving was under heavy scrutiny as Arenas would say, so for him, it would have been nearly impossible.
Nobody can say what Bryant and Jordan would have done, but it’s safe to assume they would have taken the shot to play. Players like Andrew Wiggins, Bradley Beal, and LeBron James took the vaccine even though they were uncertain to ensure they got on the floor. Two of the NBA’s all-time greats in, MJ and Kobe, would have likely done the same.
