Even though Andrew Wiggins is one of the last remaining COVID-19 vaccine holdouts in the NBA, at least one of his teammates said he has no plans to try and convince his teammate to get protected against the coronavirus.
Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green said it isn’t his place to try and convince anybody to do something they do not want to do.
“That would be like Andrew — who everyone knows recently just had a kid maybe 5 months or so ago now — that would be like me telling him, ‘Yo, your wife is going into labor. How dare you leave this team and not go tend to your wife?'” Green said.
“That’s something that’s personal to him. That’s something that’s health-related. That’s something that’s personal to his family. This is no different. We’re dealing with something that to me feels like has turned into a political war when you’re talking about vaccinated [people] and non-vaccinated [people]. I think it’s become very political.”
Green may view it as a “personal decision,” however, his choice to remain unvaccinated impacts Green and the rest of the Warriors as he won’t be able to play 41 home games at the Chase Center due to a San Francisco ordinance. When Wiggins is allowed to play and practice with the team, he is putting members of the organization at a higher risk of contracting or spreading the coronavirus.
“And for someone who’s not extremely into politics, when you make something so political and not everyone is into politics, then you can also turn those people off,” Green said Thursday. “I think you have to honor people’s feelings and their own personal beliefs. And I think that’s been lost when it comes to vaccinated and non-vaccinated. … You say we live in the land of the free — well, you’re not giving anyone freedom because you’re making people do something essentially without making them, you’re making them do something. And that goes against everything America stands for, supposedly stands for.”
“I’m not in any position to tell him what he should or should not be doing,” Green said. “And as a leader of his team, I’m not going to go to him and say, ‘Hey man, we really need … .’ No, you do what you feel. I’m not going to go and ask him did he get a polio vaccine? So why would I go ask him if he got a COVID vaccine? … It’s not my place or my business on whether he gets vaccinated or not — it’s your own personal choice at the end of the day what you do with your body. It’s not my place to tell him what he should or shouldn’t do with his. Because he’s not going to come tell me what I should do with my body.”
