Seth Udinski, FISM News
This past NBA season was a big one for young star Andrew Wiggins. Entering the prime of his career, the 27-year-old made his first NBA All-Star team and helped lead the Golden State Warriors to their fourth NBA Finals championship in eight seasons.
Despite all the success, the former no. 1 pick made a personal health decision this season that he wishes he hadn’t – getting the COVID-19 shot.
In an interview with FanSided earlier this week, Wiggins opened up about his regret on having received the jab in a season where the NBA put pressure on all players and coaches to do so, despite the vaccine’s controversial results and side effects.
Wiggins said, “I still wish I didn’t get [vaccinated], to be honest with you.”
He went on to explain that he felt like the choice was ultimately taken away from him. “I did it, and I was an All-Star this year and champion, so that was the good part, just not missing out on the year, the best year of my career,” he said. “But for my body, I just don’t like putting all that stuff in my body, so I didn’t like that, and I didn’t like that it wasn’t my choice. I didn’t like that it was either get this or don’t play.”
While the league has not formally banished players who refuse the jab, it has incentivized players to receive the vaccine by making testing policies, masking policies, and travel restrictions extremely difficult on players who refuse. Additionally, as was the case last season with Brooklyn Nets’ phenom Kyrie Irving who is still unvaccinated, players without the jab are forced to miss games in cities with vaccine requirements.