NBA WARNS UNVACCINATED PLAYERS OF UPDATED TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS FOR GAMES IN CANADA

Any NBA players who have not yet been vaccinated and posses a temporary visa status will not be able to reenter the united states if they decide to leave the country, this is according to a memo obtained by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Tuesday.

The NBA informed teams on Tuesday unvaccinated players will not be allowed to enter Toronto to play games in January 15, according to the memo teams are instructed to distribute the memo to all the teams by Friday. Canada has put out a new law that states that all visitors entering the country must be vaccinated, under the new law, anybody who meets the criteria for limited exceptions would be allowed entry into the country but will have to under go a 14 day quarantine for 14days.

Teams are expected to provide the NBA office with a list of unvaccinated players by Friday, according to the memo that was sent out. The NBA is confident that at least 97% of its players are vaccinated, and sources told ESPN that more than 60% have received booster shots. With about 500 players across all the 30 rosters, the travel restrictions would impact approximately 15 players.

No major professional sports league in the United States has required its players to be vaccinated.

On November the 19th, the Canadian government made an announcement adjusting to its boarder measures which included updated entry mandates for athletes who were previously exempted as at now only fully vaccinated individuals can enter the country as of January the 15th.