Warriors' Green Won't Pressure Unvaccinated Teammate Over Choice

SAN FRANCISCO, CA —Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green admittedly isn’t big on politics.

But Green feels like pressuring Americans to get the coronavirus vaccines is hinging on crossing the line of violating someone’s rights. That was Green’s message this week when asked about his Warrior teammate Andrew Wiggins’ decision not to get vaccinated although it will keep him from playing home games at Chase Center because of the city’s COVID-19 regulations.

San Francisco requires anyone entering an indoor mega-event with more than 5,000 people to be fully vaccinated. The fact that Wiggins is not vaccinated will prevent him from entering the arena on game day. But for Green, telling someone —including a teammate — what to do in regard to the vaccination issue isn’t his place.

So, he is choosing to stay out of it. But that didn’t stop the veteran All-Star forward from letting reporters know where he stands on the issue.

“I’m not in any position to tell (Wiggins) what he should or should not be doing,” Green told reporters on Thursday. ““And as a leader of this team, I’m not going to go to him and say, ‘Hey, man, we really need ... ’ No. You do what you feel. You do what you feel you want to do. I’m not going go and ask him did he get a polio vaccine, so why would I go ask him if he got a COVID vaccine?”

Visiting players are not required to follow the guideline, according to rules, because they are not employed by a city-based company or franchise. Those players do need to undergo COVID-19 testing in order to play against the Warriors in San Francisco, but Green told reporters that the government should not be telling people how to live their lives.

NBC Sports reported Thursday that for every game Wiggins misses, he will forfeit about $385,000 in pre-tax money while earning an annual salary of more than $31 million. Wiggins is one of three-high profile players who said they will decline to get vaccinated joining Brooklyn's Kyrie Irving and Washington's Bradley Beal.

“We're dealing with something that to me feels like has turned into a political war when you're talking about vaccinated (people) and non-vaccinated (people),” Green told reporters. “ I think it's become very political."

He added: "And for someone who's not extremely into politics, when you make something so political and not everyone is into politics, then you can also turn those people off. I think you have to honor people's feelings and their own personal beliefs. And I think that's been lost when it comes to vaccinated and non-vaccinated. ... You say we live in the land of the free — well, you're not giving anyone freedom because you're making people do something essentially without making them, you're making them do something. And that goes against everything America stands for, supposedly stands for."