Los Angeles Lakers stars LeBron James and Russell Westbrook, along with the rest of the roster, finally revealed their vaccination status ahead of opening night.
Per vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka, the entire roster will be fully vaxxed and ready to go for the 2021-22 NBA season:
“On opening night, all of the players that are currently signed on our roster will be deemed fully vaccinated. We're grateful for that.” he said (via Mike Trudell of Spectrum SN)
Rob Pelinka: "On opening night, all of the players that are currently signed on our roster will be deemed fully vaccinated. We’re grateful for that.”
Pelinka said he appreciated the assistance of @UCLAHealth and the team doctors and staff towards that end.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) September 23, 2021
The report did not confirm if the team has already been vaccinated as of now, but according to Pelinka, the entire Lakers roster will be ready. This also clarifies the initial statement from LeBron a few months ago when it seemed he did not confirm or deny if he was getting vaccinated.
In the United States, California is the state that has recorded the highest number of cases and deaths of COVID-19 since the global pandemic started back in 2020 (though New York State has a higher rate of cases and deaths as a percentage of its population, which is roughly half of California's.) As of this writing, there have been 4.68 million confirmed cases and a total of 68,339 deaths in the state alone. These numbers make up around 10% of the total cases and deaths in the entire nation. This should help explain why the Lakers organization has decided to take a firm stand when it comes to everybody's health and safety: Getting vaccinated is a priority.
Hopefully, this starts a trend in the NBA and more and more players get vaccinated.
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