LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers attended a promotion program for a tequila firm in which he is a shareholder early this week that breached the NBA’s health and safety protocols, however, he will not be punished, ESPN announced Saturday.
IMPORTANT FACTS
- Lobos 1707, a Tequila company, organized a celebrity-filled celebration Monday Night, which included Rapper Drake and Michael B. Jordan.
- According to ESPN, the event was a short outdoor photoshoot and all participants were expected to provide evidence of being vaccinated or a previous negative test outcome.
- Drake shared an Instagram photo of himself and James with some other attendees, and no one was wearing masks.
- According to ESPN, the league’s spokesperson said that James’ presence was a breach of the agreed-upon guidelines and was addressed with the management, as they have done with other similar instances in the league.
- Later on Saturday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski posted on Twitter that LeBron James would not face a suspension for the breach because the context of the case did not escalate to a dangerous degree of virus transmission threat.
- Forbes contacted the NBA for input but did not instantly receive a response.
IMPORTANT BACKGROUND:
James has officially refrained from stating if he is vaccinated or not. In early March, when reporters inquired if James intended to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, James said that it is a discussion he wanted to have with his family and requested to maintain it as a private matter.
He said that he has noticed [NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s] remarks about the vaccine. However, anytime you plan to do something, it is a private discussion between a person and his family and is not open to the public.
Following practice on Friday, LeBron James was once again expressly questioned whether he had been vaccinated or intended to have one. He said that what he does off the floor is for his family, its health, and safety.
Frank Vogel, the Lakers’ coach, admitted Friday that the team has not yet met the necessary vaccine rate of 85 percent to receive waivers from league-mandated health and safety protocols. This suggests that approximately two players on the team’s 17-man roster have not received their COVID-19 vaccine shots.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health revealed this week that citizens of Los Angeles who take their first dose of Covid-19 this weekend will be entered to win a pair of complementary Lakers season tickets for the 2021-22 season.
