Kareem Abdul-Jabbar makes the altruistic case for vaccinating NBA players now

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
(Image credit: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar agrees with fellow NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley that at least some current professional hoops players should jump the COVID-19 vaccine line, but his reasoning differs significantly.

Barkley caused a stir last month when he suggested NBA players "deserve some preferential treatment" regarding vaccinations because they pay a lot in taxes due to their high salaries. In a Monday op-ed for The New York Times, Abdul-Jabbar — who at age 73 has already been vaccinated — writes that while that is simply "untrue," there is an altruistic case for inoculations within the league, even though healthy athletes in their 20s and 30s typically wouldn't be close to prioritization.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.