NBA: Unvaccinated players won't get paid for missed games

Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Unvaccinated NBA players who are forced to miss games because of local vaccination mandates in New York and San Francisco won't be paid for any games they miss, the league announced Wednesday.

"Any player who elects not to comply with local vaccination mandates will not be paid for games that he misses," Mike Bass, the NBA's executive vice president of communications, said in a statement.

Both cities recently passed executive orders that are set to impact unvaccinated players on the Brooklyn Nets and Golden State Warriors. The order in New York, which applies to the Nets' Barclays Center, requires one COVID-19 shot. To enter San Francisco's Chase Center, an individual must be fully vaccinated.

Nets star point guard Kyrie Irving wasn't able to attend the team's media day at Barclays Center earlier this week as a result of the mandate in New York, which went into effect this month.

During the Warriors' media day, standout forward Andrew Wiggins said his vaccination status was "private" ahead of the executive order in San Francisco going into effect next month before the start of the 2020-21 season.

"I'm just going to keep fighting for what I believe and for what I believe is right," Wiggins said Monday. "What's right to one person isn't right to the other, and vice versa."

The executive orders governing the COVID-19 vaccine only apply to the players who compete in those markets, with out-of-market players exempt from them.

The New York Knicks previously said their entire organization, including all players, is fully vaccinated and in compliance with all New York mandates.

The NBA and its players' union currently are finalizing an agreement over the health and safety protocols for this season.