(Reuters) – Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green said it is not his place to convince team mate Andrew Wiggins to take a COVID-19 shot and described the debate surrounding vaccinated and unvaccinated players as a “political war”.
Reports in the U.S. media said 95% of players in the league have had at least one shot. Unvaccinated players must comply with a lengthy list of restrictions to play this season.
The NBA last month denied Wiggins’ request for a religious exemption from the vaccine.
Green said he was not in a position to speak to Wiggins about the shot and that it was personal issue for him and his family.
“We’re dealing with something that to me feels like has turned into a political war when you’re talking about vaccinated and non-vaccinated,” added Green.
“I think it’s become very political.”
The 2021-2022 season will begin on Oct. 19 despite concerns over the contagious delta variant of the novel coronavirus that has hit those who are unvaccinated particularly hard.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
