Adam Silver says NBA is focused on boosters, not vaccine mandate

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: “To me, the focus right now is on boosters.”

Kyrie Irving will return playing for the Brooklyn Nets as a part-timer once clears COVID-protocols. Brooklyn has 27 games left to play on the road and the Nets star is eligible to play in these games. As for the 25 home games and all upcoming playoff games in Brooklyn, New York City vaccine mandates won’t allow him to play at Barclays Center until further notice.

The league has been pushing for players to get vaccinated for several months, but they have not managed to form an agreement with the NBPA on a vaccine mandate. According to commissioner Adam Silver, the league has “no plans right now to pause the season” despite a significant surge of players entering health and safety protocol, and isn’t focused on instituting a mandate.

“This virus will not be eradicated and we’ll have to learn how to live with it.”

Irving is among the remaining 3% of players in the league that have not been vaccinated. The commissioner has also made it known that he surely wants players to get boosted as soon as possible.

“To me, the focus right now is on boosters for the 97% of players that are vaccinated – Among those players who are eligible to get boosters, because as you know there’s a waiting period after your second shot, but among those who are eligible to get boosted, we’re at something like 65%, and ideally, I’d like to see that number get to 97% as well.

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