Union poised for fight over vaccination penalties
Michele Roberts is still hoping to get NBA players vaccinated at 100%, but she rejects any criticism about her clients’ hesitancy and is prepared to fight the league on withholding pay, the union executive director told the New York Daily News.
“We’ll see about that,” Roberts said Wednesday. “They’ve been reporting that we’ve agreed that if a player who was not able to play because of his non-vaccination status, they could be docked [pay]. We did not agree. The league’s position is that they can. We’ll see.”
The union voted against mandatory vaccination, but two NBA markets — San Francisco and New York City — carry local government requirements of at least one shot for indoor gatherings. The NBA announced last week that players unable to play because of vaccination status will lose game checks.
It might affect Nets star Kyrie Irving, who reportedly is unvaccinated and also is a union vice president. Irving can’t play games in Barclays Center or practice in the team’s facility in Brooklyn.
“Our position is no [the league cannot punish a player for being unvaccinated],” Roberts said. “The league’s position is that we don’t need your agreement because the CBA allows that anyway.
“It’s debatable. I’m not going to say it’s impossible, but I’m going to say it’s a bridge we’ll cross, if and when we get there. Right now, we’ve agreed that if a player breaks protocols, he can be disciplined to include some taxing of his comp. But not being vaccinated — because it’s not mandatory — in and of itself should not lead to any discipline.”
Soccer
Players stopped on the field in the sixth minute of Wednesday night’s National Women’s Soccer League games and linked arms in a circle to demonstrate solidarity with two former players who came forward with allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against a prominent coach. The actions came during games between Gotham FC and the Washington Spirit in Philadelphia and between the North Carolina Courage and Racing Louisville in Cary, N.C.
• Steve Malik, the owner of the North Carolina Courage, said the organization was not aware of allegations of sexual harassment against former coach Paul Riley until the report that led to his firing and apologized for the franchise’s “failure” to create an environment where players felt safe in coming forward.
• Authorities in Australia have urged players to make formal complaints in any cases of sexual abuse or misconduct after Lisa De Vanna, one of the country’s leading international goal scorers, alleged she’d been groomed and harassed by senior players early in her career.
• Two dozen players from Venezuela’s women’s national soccer teams have accused former coach Kenneth Zseremeta of sexual harassment and abuse. Zseremeta led the women’s national teams at various levels in Venezuela for nine years until he was fired in 2017.
• Union Berlin has identified a person it says was one of the perpetrators of antisemitic abuse against Maccabi Haifa fans and banned him from the club’s grounds.
Tennis
Sloane Stephens outlasted Heather Watson, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 61, on in her opening match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif. Three-time major champion Andy Murray and four-time major champion Kim Clijsters received wild cards into the event.
Elsewhere
Brunswich High School in Maine canceled the rest of its football season and fired football coach Dan Cooper after investigating reports of hazing involving a sex toy at a preseason gathering.