According to ESPN's memo, the NBA informed both New York City and San Francisco teams about vaccine requirements. This will apply to all players, including those who are members of the Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, and New York Knicks.
Both cities passed legislation requiring COVID-19 vaccinations in certain settings.
Beginning Sept. 13, any person over 12 years old will not be permitted to enter New York City's "certain covered premises". This includes Barclays Center, Madison Square Garden, the home of the Nets, and any indoor gym or fitness setting. They must also provide proof that they have received at least one dose COVID-19 vaccine.
Beginning Oct. 13, all children over 12 years old must prove that they have been fully vaccinated in San Francisco.
These laws only apply to Warriors, Nets, and Knicks players, not to visitors who are coming to play for those teams. There are exemptions in San Francisco and New York City for teams from out of town coming to these cities to play. These exemptions do not apply to the home teams of those cities.
The memo stated that all 30 NBA teams must provide information to each player on their roster that isn't fully vaccinated by Friday. They also need to notify the league office of which players they have not yet vaccinated. The league will inform the league if any team signs a player not fully vaccinated.
It was also mentioned that similar vaccine requirements might be considered in other NBA markets and that some could, unlike New York or San Francisco, consider vaccination requirements for visiting teams. The league also stated that unvaccinated athletes could face other restrictions. It pointed out that Toronto expects that unvaccinated participants can play in games, provided they have a negative COVID-19 testing. However, they will not be allowed to interact with anyone outside their team's travel party or leave their hotel to go to practices and games.
The memo was first reported by the Athletic.
ESPN previously reported that the league informed teams last week in a memo that all staff under team control working within 15 feet from referees or players during games would need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Although the directive included front-office staff members, coaches and trainers, it did not require all players to be vaccinated.
Negotiations with the National Basketball Players Association are required for leaguewide vaccination.
The NBA has given a deadline of Oct. 1 for all team personnel to get fully vaccinated. However, it left open the possibility that they might need a booster shot later. All personnel working near the court are subject to this mandate, including broadcasters and scoreboard operators, photographers, security personnel, and security personnel. All back-of-house personnel, including medical staff, equipment managers, locker room attendants, food and beverage handlers, and providers, are also required to be vaccinated.
Training camps for the NBA open on Sept. 28. The regular season starts Oct. 19.
The league also sent a separate memo to teams Wednesday and was obtained by ESPN. It highlighted preliminary arena operations protocols for next season. It states that protocols are still in progress and that final protocols will be available mid-September.
The preliminary protocols indicate that the 2019-20 seating arrangements for home and visiting teams will be restored. Teams provided cool-down seats and staff members were physically separated from the team benches during the pandemic.
The memo also asks teams to consider whether they will assign non-fully vaccinated members to lockers that are "as far from other players and for the nearest other players to have fully vaccinated (i.e. to avoid putting non-full-vaccinated people in adjacent lockers)." The memo also states that it is expected that all game-day personnel will need to wear facemasks at minimum at the beginning of the season.
The memo also states that as the season nears, fans aged two years and older who sit in or have access to areas within 15 feet from players (such as the court, locker room, scorer's tables, etc.) will be required to be fully vaccinated. The memo states that negative test results could be from either a PCR test two days prior to the game or an approved rapid sample taken on the day of.
This report was contributed by ESPN's Baxter Holmes.
