LeBron’s Vaccination Status, and Other NBA Playoff Mysteries

Who’s the most famous unvaccinated American? Joe Biden’s vaccinated; Donald Trump’s vaccinated; Barack Obama’s vaccinated; Dolly Parton’s vaccinated. (Even Matthew McConaughey’s vaccinated.) But you know who might not be? LeBron James might not be.

It’s possible that LeBron—without question the most well-known and powerful athlete in this country, and arguably in the world—has sneaked in a shot in the midst of an already stressful playoff run. But if he has, he sure is trying to keep it from the rest of us. During a time when the NBA is constantly running advertisements featuring players encouraging Americans to get their shots, LeBron will not answer questions about his vaccination status. Back in March, he said he would “keep that to a private thing”; a couple of weeks ago, Dennis Schroeder said he and LeBron are the only non-vaccinated Lakers players, before quickly amending that to just himself; and LeBron was gently chastised last week by the NBA for breaking COVID-19 protocols by attending a party for the release of a LeBron tequila brand, which forced further questions about his status. LeBron’s answer was evasive:

It’s not an idle question, not just because of LeBron’s outsize status off the court, but also because of his practical brilliance on it, and the implications of any perceived special treatment. The NBA just slapped the fully vaccinated Kristaps Porzingis with a $50,000 fine for walking through a strip club, which forced the league to parse the difference between that and LeBron’s tequila-party incident (it seems to rest on the party being outdoors, with proof of vaccination required). Charles Barkley blasted the NBA for not having “the fucking balls” to sit LeBron out of the playoffs. Analyst Richard Jefferson agreed, and vaunted ESPN yakker Stephen A. Smith said LeBron “should be ashamed” of himself.

The NBA released a statement that seemed to imply that LeBron did not have to quarantine because he had been vaccinated. And on Monday the Lakers said they expected the team to reach 85% vaccination status—meaning at least 15 out of 17 players—this week, triggering more freedom from league restrictions around how they can interact, which would suggest that somebody got vaccinated recently. So maybe this is much ado about nothing. But LeBron’s refusal to say either way (along with an estimated 70 percent of the league, at least according to figures from one month ago) is the sort of public messaging that contributes to vaccine hesitancy. It’s not LeBron’s job to tell people to get vaccinated. But it sure wouldn’t hurt.

LeBron isn’t the only player who won’t say whether he has gotten the vaccine or not; the Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins actively said he won’t get one. But he’s still, you know, LeBron, and other stars like Anthony Davis, Luka Doncic and Stephen Curry have gone public about being vaccinated.

If last season might have been LeBron’s easiest ever route to a title, notwithstanding the bizarre and challenging circumstances of the bubble, this season could be the hardest. His Lakers have struggled all year, needing a play-in tournament win over Golden State just to secure the 7th seed, and the Lakers lost Game One to a young, talented Phoenix Suns team before recovering last night to even the series, thanks in large part to a more spry, focused LeBron (yet another untimely injury to Chris Paul doesn’t hurt either). No player has been pushed more over the last year than LeBron, who as usual played longer than anyone else, negotiated to keep the games going amidst social justice protests that nearly shut the bubble down, then had to return to play within two months for an extra-compressed schedule before missing more than a month with a serious ankle injury that it seems like he hasn’t shaken yet.

He is also constantly under attack in the political arena, for his activism, for his relationship with China, for being a leader in encouraging other players to get involved politically. (I mean, the guy called Trump “U Bum” and Trump didn’t even punch back!) Oh, and he has a Space Jam movie coming out that’s going to look awfully silly if he just lost in the first round of the playoffs to a team from Phoenix. The guy has a lot going on, but the vaccine confusion is a rare public relations misstep. As always: All eyes are on LeBron. Still: He is 36 years old and has more arms yanking on him than he’s ever had before. He has never been quite stretched this thin.

The perpetual drama of LeBron has helped obscure a larger potential disaster developing with the other team in Los Angeles. Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Clippers lost their second consecutive home game to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, falling behind 2-0 and putting themselves within two games of a nightmarish elimination.

The Clippers were the sad sack story of the bubble, a team of stars imploding on the biggest stage with a second-round loss to an insurgent but unheralded Denver team, but losing in the first round this year would be an implosion of megaton proportions. Owner Steve Ballmer and the front office blew up the entire future of the franchise two years ago for one totally understandable reason: To bring in Kawhi Leonard, fresh off a championship in Toronto, and his handpicked partner Paul George.

The two stars were expected to not just bring a title to the Clippers, but also to be a clear bulwark against LeBron and the Lakers: A way for Ballmer to assert that his team was the more brash and forward-thinking of the Staples Center denizens. He paid dearly for the privilege. In order to get George, which was a condition of getting Kawhi, the Clippers traded useful veteran Danilo Gallinari, rising star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a 2021 first-round pick, a 2022 first-round pick, a 2023 first-round pick, a 2024 first-round pick, a 2025 first-round pick and a 2026 first-round pick. That is the entire future of the franchise right there. It was considered well worth it, though, because George and Leonard made the Clippers instant title favorites. Even if both players gave themselves an out by only signing two-year contracts.

If the Clippers lose to the Mavericks, as they are now in serious danger of doing, it will have all gone to shit, all those draft picks and all that cash for … never even making the conference finals. The pivot person is Kawhi, who is thought to want to stay on his home West Coast but surely would have to expand his options if the Clippers fell on their face again. (Which would leave the Clippers with George, who recently signed a four-year extension but, for all his occasional regular season brilliance over the years, has mostly been curiously muted in the playoffs.)

If you are one of those teams with cap space waiting for a disgruntled superstar to tire of his current team and enter a brave new world with you—like the Heat or, gasp, the Knicks—the Mavericks beating the Clippers and potentially jarring Kawhi loose is the best possible thing that could happen. No one ever truly knows what’s going on with the quixotic Leonard. But if the Clippers lose in the first round, all bets are off.

Will Leitch is a contributing editor at New York Magazine, national columnist for MLB, a writer for Medium and the founder of Deadspin. Subscribe to his free weekly newsletter and buy his novel “How Lucky,” out from Harper Books now.