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As it stands, the Sixers have four players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols because of COVID-19 concerns. Georges Niang went into the protocols back on December 15, while Shake Milton and Andre Drummond entered four days later. On Wednesday, another player—Danny Green—was added to the list.
With those players, plus Matisse Thybulle and Isaiah Joe, and the extended and painful battles against the virus that Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris endured, Philly has had more than its share of COVID-19 troubles. But that does not mean everyone on the roster has taken heed and gotten vaccinated.
According to Green, there are players on the Sixers roster who have refused vaccination thus far.
And while that could be a danger to their own health, it could also damage the Sixers’ prospects long term. As Green said on his podcast, Inside the Green Room:
Talk to certain guys who may not be vaccinated, because Toronto, Canada, is having a thing now that you can’t enter the country unless you’re vaccinated and had the booster shot. That may affect us if we end up playing there a couple times or if we end up playing them in the playoffs. So we have guys on our team that are not vaccinated. You really have to think about that in the future, ahead of time. But yeah, guys are starting to take the booster shots now, guys are starting to see different things happening.
Unvaccinated Players Figure to Create Problems Going Forward
Unvaccinated players on the roster could be a problem for a number of teams, and the issue with Toronto could be especially pertinent, since the Raptors sit 14-15 at this point, just a game behind the Sixers in the Eastern Conference standings. The Raptors, remember, played last year in Tampa for the very reason Green mentions—because travel over an international border figures to be very complicated, especially during a COVID-19 surge like the world is experiencing now.
While players’ vaccination status has been a matter of privacy, a playoff series against the Raptors would make some things obvious, unless the league considered again moving Toronto into the U.S. at some point this season or in the postseason.
Either way, this NBA season has been decimated in the past two weeks by the virus, and that’s been tough to grasp.
“It sucks to see everybody go through that again,” Green said. “We were just having things reopen, things get back to normal and now, coming back again.”
Family Members Affected by COVID-19, Too
But there is one consequence of unvaccinated players that goes underappreciated—those players could increase the chance of infecting not only teammates but of teammates’ family members, too. When Embiid and Harris had the virus, the focus was on their struggles, but Green pointed out, some of their family members had it, too.
Green himself will continue to undergo testing but is likely out for at least 10 days.
“It stinks,” Green said. “Especially for a lot of families and obviously the teams that are going through it. We went through it earlier, unfortunately and now you see the Chicago Bulls have 10 players out, I know Joel and Tobias had it, they were struggling and some of their families had got it, too, so I’m glad they all made it out safe. It’s something to think about.”
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