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On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to mandate anyone entering indoor businesses such as bars, restaurants, gyms, and sports venues to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. That means in order to attend a Clippers, Lakers, Rams, or Chargers game, a negative COVID-19 result will no longer be acceptable unless given a religious or medical exemption.
New York and San Francisco became the first two major cities in the United States to mandate coronavirus vaccinations in order to enter any indoor businesses such as bars, restaurants, gyms, and sports venues. That included sports teams like the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Brooklyn Nets.
Nets guard Kyrie Irving and Warriors guard Andrew Wiggins have been two of the latest players to be affected by the vaccine mandates.
With the mandate going into affect shortly after the Warriors kicked off training camp, Wiggins would've been unable to practice with the team. After the team's first preseason game, Wiggins told members of the media he received the COVID-19 vaccine.
New York implemented their mandate much sooner, so Kyrie Irving was unable to attend Media Day and has been unable to practice with the team in their facility. As it stands, Irving is set to miss at least all 41 home games if he continues to refuse to get vaccinated.
The Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers will not be dealing with those problems. On Media Day, Lakers players confirmed their team was 100 percent vaccinated and would not be affected by any vaccination mandate.
“It's huge,” coach Frank Vogel said. “Not every team in the league this year has that luxury, but we do. There were a lot of conversations along the way, and I'm super proud of our guys.”
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Clippers' chairman Steve Ballmer and President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank declined to address the team's vaccination status on Media Day and in the days leading up to camp, but head coach Tyronn Lue confirmed his team was fully vaccinated when asked about any potential issues.
“Well, our guys are vaccinated, so we’re just trying to do whatever the league tells us to do,” Tyronn Lue said. “We try to abide by the rules and kind of go from there. We talked about it last year, just being able to adapt and do what we need to do to play the game that we love. Certain players and certain people have got different beliefs, and I respect those beliefs. Our guys are fully vaccinated so I respect their beliefs as well.”
The mandate isn't expected to go into effect until November 4th, giving anyone who isn't vaccinated yet ample time to receive the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccinate or the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.
It's unclear how the new mandate, which is expected to be signed by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in the near future, will affect unvaccinated players on visiting teams.
In a memo released last week, the NBA announced it has reached a 95 percent threshold on vaccinated players entering camp. Since then, a handful of players have also received their COVID-19 vaccines, while others are sticking to their guns and not getting vaccinated.
The Lakers will have six home games before the mandate is expected to go into effect while the Clippers will have four home games. The Rams only have one home game between today, October 6th and November 4th while the Chargers have two.
