LeBron James has been vaccinated against COVID-19. But despite this, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar made clear that he does not believe it is his place to tell people what they should or should not put in their bodies when he met with the press at the team’s media day last week.
James and Golden State Warriors standout Draymond Green, who expressed similar sentiments regarding then-unvaccinated teammate Andrew Wiggins, were the subjects of a recent piece written on Substack by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. An outspoken advocate for Americans to get one of the COVID vaccines, Abdul-Jabbar wrote that James was “just plain wrong” for his comments, and said that Green’s belief that people needed to “honor” Wiggins’ decision to remain unvaccinated “couldn’t have been said worse.”
After mentioning the cost of inaction on things designed to make people safe — something that he took as a literal with the pandemic, saying “Harvard economists say it’s cost us $16 trillion so far” — Abdul-Jabbar addressed Green’s comment that there is “something to be said for people’s concerns about something that’s being pressed so hard.”
The only support for Draymond’s statement is his belief that when people “press hard” there’s something inherently wrong with their opinion. There is no logic to that statement. If I press hard against institutional racism, if I press hard against police brutality, if I press hard against recent laws making it harder for minorities to vote, if I press hard against child porn, if I press hard in support of MeToo am I automatically wrong? On the contrary, the passion of those urging vaccines might suggest there’s some urgency to their opinion. That the situation is serious and we need to take immediate action to protect people. That thousands are dying every day, mostly among the unvaccinated. That the Black community, where vaccine hesitancy is high, are dying at a disproportionately higher rate than whites. That publicly talking about honoring opinions that contribute to their deaths is irresponsible.
In Abdul-Jabbar’s eyes, the pair are making arguments that stem from a support for freedom, but that saying it here comes at the expense of the health and well-being of others. He also called on athletes like James and Green to use their platforms for good, encouraging others to get vaccinated and play roles in ending the pandemic that come from being as famous as LeBron James or Draymond Green are. Whether or not they heed his advice, though, remains to be seen.