Let the Vaccine Spin Begin!
The NBA begins the long and arduous process of convincing everyone it’s a moral good to vaccinate the league.
Remember the NBA repeatedly saying it wouldn’t jump the theoretical line in acquiring vaccines? It shouldn’t be too hard, considering it was only really last week that this was again trumpeted by commissioner Adam Silver and the league office. Well, it took a disaster to the start of the season—one that’s seen, among countless other ridiculous things, the Washington Wizards miss six straight games due to a lack of available players—for Silver and company to change their tune about vaccinations. I even wrote about this very thing early last week, essentially arguing that the NBA should take a sober look at itself in the mirror, quit the moral grandstanding, and vaccinate its workforce. It’s quite possibly doing the last thing in that sentence but, silly me, I naively underestimated the NBA’s persistent desire to make everything it does into something done for the GOOD OF THIS NATION.
Let the spin begin! Of course, the league that must look smarter, better, kinder, more thoughtful, and more understanding of the brutal trials and tribulations of this past year was always going to turn any sort of vaccination program into something much more than what it actually is. The reason the league is doing this now is obvious. The season, while maybe not totally in jeopardy (even if it reasonably should be), is unbelievably silly. Boston Celtic Jayson Tatum hasn’t played in weeks after testing positive, the Dallas Mavericks have played with half a team for the better part of two weeks, and the postponements continue to rack up as everyone’s favorite phrase, contact tracing, works its way through pretty much every organization. Whatever the spin doctors say, the league will be vaccinating its players to preserve the viability of this season with some vague hope of getting fans in the stands for the postseason. The longer the league goes unvaccinated, the more absurd the games get, as well as the increasing likelihood that, you know, people in the league get seriously ill. If it weren’t for the new-look Brooklyn Nets, the Los Angeles Lakers making it look easy, and the efforts of Joel Embiid, who the hell knows how bleak this season would be?
Silver’s main argument for turning the act of vaccinating players into something for the greater good rests on the fact that this country has done a horrible job in convincing its population that vaccinations are recommended and safe. He remarks that “in the African American community, there's been an enormously disparate impact from COVID… But now, somewhat perversely, there's been enormous resistance [to vaccinations] in the African American community for understandable historical reasons.” This may be true, especially the impact that COVID has had on the African-American community but, again, I can’t help but laugh when it’s the effing NBA of all things to be the one to solve matters. Whether it’s this country’s repeated refusal to acknowledge its history of white supremacy and police brutality towards Black Americans or this country’s truly despicable health care system that breeds distrust and confusion around any and everything medical-related, the athletes of the NBA are here to do their part! If the NBA really cared about this community, they might instead invest in and advocate for a universal health care system that would hopefully educate and comfort that same community much earlier than when it’s time to put the needle to the arm. When what’s needed is a public service announcement from Chris Paul to do the government’s work, we might have a problem too large and too insidious for a billion-dollar sports league to handle.
I can already picture the PSAs, spliced between TNT segments where Charles Barkley says Kyrie Irving needs to shut up and play or Ernie Johnson proudly says he voted in John Kasich for the second time in a row. Maybe it’s Kawhi Leonard grinning silently on camera as he’s vaccinated. Or Russell Westbrook doing his trademark disgusted face as the needle goes into his arm. Idk, I don’t get paid to think this crap up, that’s for some bright, fresh-faced marketing director who earnestly believes that Anthony Davis getting the vaccine is a public good. Maybe there is a portion of the population soothed by images of President Joe Biden or LeBron James getting vaccinated, but the NBA’s assumption of that and apparently pleased commitment to helping in that way is too condescending for me.
Ironically enough, there could be another obstacle in the NBA’s way with this PSA program: a not insignificant number of players might not want to take the vaccine. I won’t name them here, but it doesn’t take much googling to find a handful of players who straight up don’t want the vaccine. This is not only an issue when trying to educate the populace on the safety and importance of vaccines but also an issue when trying to keep the league healthy enough to adequately complete the season. Who knows, maybe if some random American Joe can be convinced by Giannis Antetokounmpo getting vaccinated, that’ll extend to a colleague of his who feels similarly.
Lastly, one crucial missing element of the NBA’s potential marketing pitch is that a lot of people who want to get the vaccine cannot get the vaccine. Yes, it’s frustrating, disappointing, and damning that certain portions of the population are passing on vaccinations, but it misses the larger point that the distribution of said vaccines has been botched to varying levels all across the country. There will be plenty of people who watch athletes get vaccinated, call up their doctor, local hospital, or pharmacy, and simply be unable to get vaccinated. Convincing the population that the vaccine is safe is one step, vaccinating large swaths of the population in an efficient matter is another thing entirely. The NBA ignores this crucial aspect of its PSAs when, I dunno, maybe their billions of dollars, huge arenas, and impressive infrastructure could be used to help with distribution. Putting up a bunch of videos telling people to get vaccinated while not making it any easier to do so helps very little.
So yes, the spin is here, and it quite frankly stinks. The NBA cannot do anything without clapping itself on the back. It did so over the summer at the same time as squashing a wildcat strike. The league wants us all to ignore the reality of why it’s beginning to think about vaccinating its players, chiefly the season hanging in the balance. The NBA doesn’t suddenly deeply care about any of this, only caring just enough to finish the season and understanding that more vaccinated people mean more fans means more money. I hope the media doesn’t glorify the NBA for this barely disguised ploy, but the NBA breathes and the media gasps in wonder. If I worked for ESPN, I’d probably be writing a headline that says, “let’s give Silver an honorary doctorate.” Damn, it really is easy being the head of a billion-dollar sports enterprise.
Ok, that’s not a lot of real basketball talk so here are some highlights and clips from what was a very entertaining week of basketball. Be well!
