Wednesday afternoon, news broke that Matisse Thybulle is ineligible to play in the Philadelphia 76ers' Thursday night's game in Toronto. This presumably means that Thybulle is not fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The Sixers have not publicly spoken about their players' vaccination statuses, and this could be why.
Ahead of the Sixers' game against the Toronto Raptors, the team spoke with the media.
A member of the press asked head coach Doc Rivers about Thybulle's situation. Rivers downplayed it, saying “It's one game tonight.”
Sixers beat reporter Gina Mizell tweeted Rivers' optimistic outlook Thursday morning.
Doc Rivers on Matisse Thybulle being ineligible to play in Toronto tonight: “It’s one game tonight. We’ll go from there.”
On the possibility that this could be an issue in a playoff series: “We don’t know who we’re playing yet, so we’ll just handle that when it comes.”
— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell) April 7, 2022
Rivers mentioned that although Philadelphia is slated to take on Toronto in the first round of the 2022 NBA Finals, nothing is set in stone yet. “We don't know who we're playing yet, so we'll just handle that when it comes,” Rivers said.
Meanwhile, Danny Green told media members that he is “not happy” with the situation. Mizell tweeted a thread of his responses.
More Green: "I’m not happy about it. It is an opportunity for myself and other guys to get more minutes on the road with James [Harden] and other rotations, but I think we’re a better team when we’re whole and we have everybody."
— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell) April 7, 2022
While he recognizes the chance to get more reps ahead of the playoffs, he would prefer to have everyone available. “We're a better team when we're whole,” Green said Thursday morning.
Right now, the team holds the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference with a winning record of 49-30. If things stay the same, the Sixers are set to take on the Raptors, who are the fifth seed in the East.
The Raptors are a much more desirable opponent than teams like the Brooklyn Nets or the Milwaukee Bucks. However, that might not be the case anymore because of the recent revelation within the Sixers' roster.
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