The NBA and the National Basketball Players’ Association have reportedly agreed to a structure for how much pay unvaccinated players will be docked if local regulations prevent them from playing games.
According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks, players will lose 1/91.6th of their salary for every game missed.
At least 95 per cent of the NBA player pool is reportedly vaccinated against COVID-19 but some high-profile players, including the Nets’ Kyrie Irving and Wizards’ Bradley Beal, are among those who have reportedly not received the shots yet.
The new pay reduction agreement would especially impact Irving since New York and San Francisco have COVID-19 mandates that would prevent unvaccinated athletes from competing in those cities. In New York, people need to show proof of at least one COVID-19 shot to enter any gym or arena while in San Francisco people must be fully vaccinated.
Irving stands to lose more than $15 million if he is unavailable for any of his team’s 41 home games due to his vaccine status.
Warriors star Andrew Wiggins faced a similar situation and opted to begin the vaccination process over the weekend.
Bontemps and Marks report that teams will not receive any luxury tax relief under the new salary reduction agreement.
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