NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently made comments about the league and the COVID-19 vaccine.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Adam Silver floated the idea of getting NBA players vaccinated as sort of a PSA on a virtual
00:07 conference with Sportico. For more, I'm joined now by our Ben Pickman and the fantasy exec
00:12 Corey Parson.
00:13 He specifically mentioned high-profile African-Americans being vaccinated due to the disparate impact
00:20 that COVID has had on that community. And, guys, I think, when people hear this, their
00:25 first reaction is going to be, well, it's in the best interest of the league for this
00:28 to happen.
00:29 I would agree with that, obviously. But if you're not keeping the -- if the ramped-up
00:36 of the doses is there, where you're not keeping it away from essential workers or people with
00:40 preexisting conditions, I don't hate the idea of famous people doing it to show that the
00:46 vaccine is safe, so that we can ultimately get out of this thing.
00:49 Absolutely. And I think you made the key point. He's not actually -- or not necessarily saying
00:54 that NBA players are going to skip the line, so to speak, and get vaccines in the coming
00:58 days or weeks, ahead of people who might need it or in phases that are prioritized at this
01:03 point.
01:04 But he is saying that there is some value in having NBA players get it. And I think
01:07 he's certainly right. And that's certainly a reasonable position to take, right? We see
01:10 the NBA on a lot of issues. And we see professional athletes and leagues on a lot of issues, orchestrate
01:15 these campaigns and try to raise awareness for different causes.
01:18 And I see this one being no different, right? We saw the NBA one talk about mask-wearing,
01:23 say, or showing proper hygiene amid the pandemic.
01:26 And I would see -- I assume we're going to see something similar down the road, whether
01:30 it's in the coming months or a little bit beyond, about getting the vaccine and still
01:34 staying safe afterwards amid the COVID pandemic, as we try to combat it.
01:38 So I do think this is a pretty reasonable position to take. And as long as NBA players,
01:42 in my estimation, are not jumping the line and skipping phases, I do think it's pretty
01:46 reasonable. We do look to a lot of figures for advice. And so I think this would just
01:50 be another example of that.
01:51 - So, Corey, there will be people who are cynical about it and say it's all based on
01:57 the selfishness of wanting the league to pursue so they can not have stoppages and make sure
02:02 that they're getting their money.
02:04 - I think people can look at it a number of different ways, to be honest with you, Robin.
02:07 And I spent a lot of time this summer saying the words that I think that Adam Silver was
02:11 the most brilliant and sharpest guy in sports.
02:13 This right here is not one of those occasions, because I look at this one right here kind
02:17 of funny. First of all, is the NBA/PA going to allow them to mandate this? That's something
02:21 that they're going to have to deal with inside of the league. And then when you look at why
02:24 I think they possibly could be doing this, it's because you have superstar black male
02:28 athletes saying, "Okay, well, we'll line up and we'll take it." And they're using this
02:31 as a, I don't want to say a ploy, but they're using this to kind of persuade the black community
02:35 to go ahead and be out there and get vaccinated. Why do they not think that these people are
02:39 smart enough to make these decisions and do the research for themselves and their families?
02:43 So I think that that right there can be a little bit of a problem. We don't hear about
02:46 the NHL doing this, the PGA. For real, not even the WNBA has yet to be determined what
02:51 they're going to do. So I think that this thing right here is something that I am not
02:54 in agreement with David Stern. I mean, excuse me, not, God bless his soul. I'm not in agreement
02:58 with Adam Silverwood.
02:59 - But I mean, when he said PSA, that's a public service announcement, right? Obviously he
03:04 specifically referenced the black community, but this is something that, you know, in order
03:08 for the pandemic to be over, people are going to have to get vaccinated and the science
03:13 is behind the vaccination. So that's, I think the ultimate message that he would be trying
03:18 to send or the league would be trying to send as far as players who don't want to get it.
03:23 I think they'd have to, you know, establish different protocols for those players. But
03:27 I think the overall message would be, you know, we got to get people vaccinated to get
03:32 through.
03:32 group.