Warriors head coach Steve Kerr details how 12 members of the team went to get vaccinated for COVID-19 on their off day before the Dubs’ contest with the Kings.
Whether or not NBA players will get the COVID-19 vaccine has been a major topic of discussion the last few weeks.
While Warriors players Andrew Wiggins and Kent Bazemore recently told reporters they don't plan to get the vaccine, coach Steve Kerr revealed Thursday that a group from the team got the injection Thursday.
"We went yesterday to Kaiser right around the corner from Chase [Center in San Francisco], and I believe about 12 of us got vaccinated, players and coaches," Kerr told the media roughly 90 minutes before tipoff against the Kings. "I was very happy to receive mine."
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SIGN UP HERE Kerr said the group received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, meaning they won't have to return to the hospital for a second dose in three or four weeks.
As NBC Sports Bay Area's Monte Poole wrote on Thursday, professional athletes are very careful about what they put into their bodies, so there's some natural hesitation about getting the vaccine. Bazemore noted that it's a "lifestyle thing" and he doesn't want to make an exception.
“I do everything I can to strengthen my immune system, with hours upon hours of cooking, preparing my meals at home, really being conscious of what I put in my body and taking care of my health,” Bazemore told reporters Wednesday.
“My family has a history of heart disease and all these different things, and I’m trying to turn that around for my lineage. So, I’m taking it upon myself to do everything I can to keep my immune system strong and live a healthy and long life.”
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Also, as Poole noted, the Black community long has held reservations about vaccines for fear of being used as guinea pigs and having things pushed on them by the government.
“I don’t really see myself getting it anytime soon,” Wiggins said Monday, “Unless forced to, somehow.”
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It's unclear which Warriors players and coaches, aside from Kerr, got the vaccine, but it's a step in the right direction to ending the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to the Warriors, members of the New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers, Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Lakers have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine.
