The NBA Players Association did not agree to unvaccinated players being docked pay should they miss games because of vaccine mandates, union director Michele Roberts told Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
The league recently indicated players would be docked 1/91.6th of their salaries if they’re unable to play in a game due to a local vaccine mandate.
“We’ll see about that,” Roberts told Bondy. “They’ve been reporting that we’ve agreed that if a player who was not able to play because of his non-vaccination status, they could be docked (pay). We did not agree. The league’s position is that they can. We’ll see. If we get to that point, we’ll see.”
Roberts has said she hopes the union becomes 100 percent vaccinated — but is not in agreement, in this particular instance, with punishment from the league.
“Our position is no,” Roberts told Bondy. “The league’s position is that we don’t need your agreement because the CBA allows that anyway.
“It’s debatable. We’ll see. I’m not going to say it’s impossible, but I’m going to say it’s a bridge we’ll cross, if and when we get there.
Right now, we’ve agreed that a player breaks protocols, that he can be disciplined to include some taxing of his comp. But not being vaccinated — because it’s not mandatory –in and of itself should not lead to any discipline.”
Local governments in San Francisco and New York require at least one shot for indoor gatherings, meaning unvaccinated players will not be eligible to participate in games in those cities.
The NBA and union agreed that players won’t be paid for games missed because of local cities’ mandates.
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