Star Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, refuses to indicate whether or not he is vaccinated in a new interview clip from CNN. The clip is puzzling for sure. James says, “Anything I do off the court is predicated to my family. You know, for the majority, for 99.9% of stuff, it’s about the health and safety of my family. That’s what it came down to. Me being available to my teammates. On the floor and taking care of my body.” This quote seemingly gave no clear answer, so one reporter had a simple follow up question: “Do you mind me asking if you’re confirming that you got the vaccine?” James’ answer was seemingly coy: “It’s not a big deal.”
Given James’ lack of a clear response on such straightforward, softball questions, one can assume he isn’t vaccinated and doesn’t want to make this known to the public, a curious stance given his other stances. Typically, he’s more left leaning, and has been very pro movements like BLM. The idea of him being unvaccinated is seemingly out of left field.
On another interesting note, this interview comes a few days after James was caught partying at a tequila event prior to the play-in game against the Golden State Warriors. The league decided not to suspend or even fine James, which led to an outcry from teams and players across the league who had been punished for similar behavior or for even doing the same exact thing. Indiana Pacers players were especially sad, as star guard Caris Levert was held out of each play in game due to health and safety protocols. While it makes sense the NBA did what it did, as Levert is a good young player and James is possibly the greatest player of all time, and arguably the most marketable star and biggest draw since Michael Jordan laced them up, when dealing with a disease with the capability of hospitalization and death, ratings and money shouldn’t drive decision making. The move reeks of hypocrisy by the NBA and looks even worse now that James is seemingly confirmed to not be vaccinated.
