Silver says he hopes Irving gets vaccinated
Adam Silver, the basketball fan, would prefer to see Kyrie Irving on the court
again with the Brooklyn Nets as soon as possible.
Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, would prefer to see Irving vaccinated.
Silver said Monday he hopes Irving — one of the few players in the league who has not yet chosen to
be vaccinated — changes his mind before long and clears a
path to get back on the floor with the Nets.
“I would like to see our players vaccinated, because I think it’s a public service of
sorts, particularly to young people who
might not see the value of getting vaccinated,” Silver said on the eve of the league’s 75th anniversary season, the third to be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic,
Irving cannot play for the Nets in large part because of rules
unique to New York and San Francisco requiring vaccinations as a prerequisite for working. The Nets
said last week that Irving would not be involved in team activities “until he is
eligible to be a full participant.”
And at this time, that means vaccinated. Silver would not disclose if he has spoken with Irving directly, but made his stance clear.
“There’s nothing fair about this virus,”
Silver said. “It’s indiscriminate in terms of who it impacts. And I think it’s perfectly
appropriate that New York and other cities
have passed laws that require people who
both work and visit arenas to be vaccinated. That seems to be a responsible publichealth decision.”
About 96% of NBA players have been vaccinated, Silver
said. That means that about 20, or less than
one per team on average, are not. Anyone working games in
proximity to players this season, from referees to stat-crew employees, must be vaccinated by league mandate.
“I hope that Kyrie, despite how strongly
he feels about the vaccination, ultimately decides to get vaccinated because I’d love to see him play basketball this season,” Silver said.
In other matters Silver discussed Monday:
Silver said the league’s $10 billion
revenue projection for 2021-22 is based
on having full arenas all season. He said the league missed revenue projections by about 35% last season, largely because arenas were not filled for much of the year.
There still are no resolutions to league
investigations into the sign-and-trade deals that sent Lonzo
Ball to Chicago and Kyle Lowry to Miami
this summer. The investigations are trying to determine if the Bulls or Heat
broke league rules by making contact with the players before the NBA’S negotiating window opened.
Adding an inseason tournament, something Silver has sought for some time and models in part after what exists in European soccer, remains a viable possibility going forward. “I think we’re still in
the process of formulating what would be the best proposal for all concerned,” Silver
said.
Expansion will be a serious topic again, “at some point,”
Silver said. Seattle is a city the league is
eyeing, but the league won’t look at growing
past the current 30 teams until it is “fully through the pandemic and know that we’re back operating on all cylinders.”
Some other storylines entering the
2021-22 season:
Giannis’ Goals
The last time there was an NBA contest that mattered, Giannis Antetokounmpo picked the perfect time to have the game of his life.
His numbers: 50 points, 14 rebounds.
Only the third such game with that many points and rebounds
in NBA Finals history. The Milwaukee
Bucks were crowned world champions for
the first time in 50 years, Antetokounmpo — who played through a
knee injury in the series — was the easy
choice as NBA Finals MVP.
And if that wasn’t enough, the story might have gotten
even happier for Bucks fans two
months later when Antetokounmpo announced that he’s just getting started.