NBA commissioner Adam Silver questioned New York City’s vaccine mandate only applying to home teams and speculated that the city’s new mayor could eventually decide to remove the vaccination requirement as restrictions are lifted in an interview Wednesday on ESPN’s “Get Up.”
“The oddity to me is that it only applies to home players,” Silver said. “… If ultimately that rule is about protecting people in the arena, it just doesn’t make sense to me that an away player who is unvaccinated can play in Barclays but the home player can’t. To me, that’s a reason they should take a look at that ordinance.”
Silver, who said he had no inside info on the ordinance, was asked about the issue as Nets guard Kyrie Irving continues to sit out home games at the Barclays Center because he is not vaccinated. Five of Brooklyn’s next seven games are in NYC, with four at home and one at the New York Knicks.
“I’m the only player that has to deal with this, in New York City, because I play there,” Irving said this weekend. “If I was anywhere else, in another city, then it probably wouldn’t be the same circumstances. But because I’m there, we have (mayor) Eric Adams, we have the New York mandate, we have things going on that are real-life circumstances that are not just affecting me, bro. You’re asking me these questions — I don’t feel guilt. I’m just living my life as best I can just like everybody else that missed these last two years.”
The NBA wants to see every player vaccinated and boosted, Silver said, but the Players’ Association was not willing to mandate it. About 97 to 98 percent of the players voluntarily got vaccinated “and the vast majority of them are boosted,” he said.
But Silver also mentioned he could see New York City mayor Eric Adams altering the current ordinance.
“Being here in the New York market, particularly in the last week, many of the masking restrictions are being lifted,” Silver said. “You can just feel it in the city. There are more people in restaurants, more people out and about. While it’s my personal view that people should get vaccinated, I can imagine a scenario where Brooklyn, as part of New York City, with a new mayor now … I could see him deciding to change along the way and say it’s no longer necessary to have a mandatory vaccination requirement.”
Following Silver’s comments, a New York City Hall spokesperson reiterated Mayor Adams’ stance in a statement to The Athletic‘s Mike Vorkunov encouraging all New Yorkers to get vaccinated.
“Since day one, the mayor has been clear that we will follow the science. New Yorkers should get vaccinated to protect themselves and others, and help New York City recover and re-open fully. The Key2NYC vaccine mandate remains in place, and we encourage all New Yorkers to get boosted and vaccinated.”
Adams spoke Wednesday about the policy during his FY23 preliminary budget remarks.
“The rule is unfair,” Adams said. “I am really, really leery about sending the wrong message. Having the city close down again keeps me up at night. The message we put in place, the rule was put in place, to start changing it now would send mixed messages. I’m struggling with this, just to be honest with you.”
(Photo: Tom Pennington / Getty Images)