DETROIT — Could the 76ers have a vaccination problem that limits them in a potential playoff series with the Toronto Raptors?
The Sixers declined to comment when asked this week by ESPN if all their players are fully vaccinated. Asked by The Inquirer before Thursday’s shootaround, Doc Rivers responded, “We don’t talk about it.”
The Sixers coach was reminded that the rhetoric at the start of the season was that all but two of his players were vaccinated. One of those players was Ben Simmons, who has since been vaccinated and traded to the Brooklyn Nets in a package for James Harden and Paul Millsap, who are fully vaccinated.
DeAndre Jordan is another key in-season addition. The Sixers signed him on March 3 after he was waived by the Los Angeles Lakers. In September, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said all of the players would be fully vaccinated before their opening-night game against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 19. So it’s expected that Jordan is vaccinated.
But after being reminded about what he said about his team earlier in the season, Rivers joked that “I think nine of them don’t [have vaccinations] right now. I’m just [messing] with you. That’s not true.”
But the coach stressed again that he doesn’t talk about it.
“If all of them have or not,” he said, “I think you will figure it out eventually.”
Eventually could come next Thursday against the Raptors at Scotiabank Arena in the final stop in the Sixers’ three-game road trip. That’s because as of Jan.15, players need to be fully vaccinated to enter Canada.
As a result, any unvaccinated player won’t travel to Toronto following Tuesday night’s game against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Missing next Thursday’s game is just one of 82 regular-season games, but there are postseason implications.
The first-round playoff series are set to begin April 16 and 17, and the top four seeds in each conference get home-court advantage in the first round.
The Sixers headed into Thursday’s game against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena in third place in the Eastern Conference standings. They were two games behind the first-place Miami Heat with seven games left. They were a game behind the second-place Milwaukee Bucks and percentage points ahead of the fourth-place Boston Celtics.
Meanwhile, the Raptors (44-32), who are in sixth place and 2½ games behind the Celtics, are unlikely to have home-court in advantage in the postseason. So Games 3 and 4 would be in Toronto, whoever the Raptors play, beginning three weeks from Wednesday.
That means unvaccinated players have around a week to get the one-dose (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine in order to wait Canada’s required two weeks and be fully vaccinated in time to play every game of a first-round series. For two-dose vaccines, a player must be two weeks past the second shot to be considered fully vaccinated.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a concern, no,” Rivers said.
But next Thursday’s game will mark the Sixers’ first trip to Toronto since the Canadian rule change went into effect. They played a preseason game there on Oct. 4 and a regular-season game there on Dec. 28.
Separated by just two games in the standings, there is a possibility that any of the top four teams could face the Raptors in the first round.
Like the Sixers, the Celtics (47-30) declined to answer ESPN’s vaccination question. However, the Heat (49-28) and Bucks (47-28) confirmed all of their players are vaccinated.
The Sixers have had several players, including starters Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and Matisse Thybulle, sidelined this season with COVID. Those players were all vaccinated.
Georges Niang was among the players sidelined with COVID. The reserve power forward seemed shocked when asked Thursday morning about the possibility of players potentially having to miss games in Toronto because of being unvaccinated.
“I think all of us are,” he said. “I don’t know the specific details on everybody’s vaccination status, but I’m not too worried about it.”
