With the NBA season right around the corner, one would think that conversations would entail discussions about the game itself and how each team, and their respective players, will adjust to new challenges.
Instead, the headlines have been dominated by the growing anti-vaxx controversy by some players in the league. Guys like Steph Curry and, for a while, Andrew Wiggins, were spearheading this resistance.
While Wiggins has since caved to the pressures of getting the vaccine, others have not — leaving many wondering why most of the game’s biggest stars have yet to actually advocate for their peers to get it.
In a recent chat with The Athletic, Steph Curry explained things from his perspective:
“To your point around why people can’t speak, because there’s a huge locker room aspect to it, and that’s for better or worse. That’s a part of sports. That’s a part of just protecting each other in that respect. And I understand that that’s going to sound like that we’re not taking the broader, we’re not prioritizing the broader problem here. But I think slowly, you’re seeing more guys be a little more outspoken, a little bit more direct about how they’re approaching it and how they’re sharing their point of view. And I hope that, sooner than later, we’ll be the next league at 100 percent. It’ll be a good case study at the end of the day how we got there.”
Certainly, Steph wants everyone to get the shot and has no doubt grown as tired by this COVID-19 ordeal as the rest of us. But, at the end of the day, it’s not up to him to decide what others should do with their own bodies.
“I feel like, and I can only speak for myself in this situation,” Curry said, “I talked about it at media day, especially around Wiggs’ situation. I was very direct and clear about I got it, I felt it was the right thing to do for everybody, knowing it was safe, knowing that I’d asked the right people. There was still a sense of urgency on Wiggs, and figuring out when he needed to be vaccinated by to be available for the season and all that. But the ball was in his court. It wasn’t a time to, like, put an ultimatum on him or anything like that respect. So it’s a hard conversation to have, and that’s only speaking for myself. Like you said, there’s a lot of other guys around the league with a lot of different microphones and platforms, and they’re going to handle it the way that they see fit. I enjoyed the process of, like you said, reaching out to Fauci; I had two conversations with him, and put those on full blast, so that they were hopefully seen by a lot of people, and sharing the right information. But it is a collective effort. Ninety-five percent is solid; it’s not 100, but we’re hoping to get to 100 pretty soon.”
Apparently, Curry spoke to Fauci directly to air out some of his hesitations and grievances. Others do not have that luxury and often look to people like Curry as examples of what to do in these trying times.
Still, it makes sense that LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph have (so far) avoided calling out the unvaccinated. It can be hard to have those conversations (especially as a teammate) regarding something so personal — especially when the choice is ultimately theirs to make anyway.
