Karl-Anthony Towns is one of those people in the country who have been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic extremely hard. The Minnesota Timberwolves star lost his mother and six other family members to the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and had a tough battle with it himself.
As Kyrie Irving’s saga continues of him refusing to get vaccinated to play games with his team as they pursue a championship, the Brooklyn Nets star took to Instagram Live on Wednesday to speak on his decision to remain unvaccinated and away from the team.
Towns said Wednesday that he isn’t against Irving or others remaining unvaccinated.
“I’m obviously a strong believer in the vaccine,” Towns said, via NJ.com. “I’ve been through so much and it would be kind of contradictory to not be on the pro-vaccine side. But what I will say is that I believe in choice and I like to give people their choice and I have no problem with people having their choice.”
Towns is fine with Irving and others making choices for themselves, but he also doesn’t want to hear any excuses whatsoever.
“They make their own decisions on their own bodies and their own families. I have no ill will towards that,” Towns said, via NJ.com. “The only thing I would say is just don’t give me a bulls**t excuse why [you don’t get the vaccine] … You don’t want to do it, that’s your choice.”
Irving currently can’t play at home games at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Nets due to a New York City vaccine mandate. Nets manager Sean Marks went a step further and stated that Irving won’t be allowed to play in any games for the team until he is vaccinated, as he doesn’t want “any member of our team to participate with part-time availability.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NBA stories via Google! Follow Us
The 25-year-old Towns averaged 24.8 points and 10.6 rebounds in 50 games for the Timberwolves last season, his sixth in the league. Despite the good year in 2020, none of it was important to him in the least bit.
“If I can be honest with y’all for a second, I mean, I don’t really recall or really care,” he said after their season opener in December about his mom’s death. “I only understand what happened from April 13 on.
“Because you may see me smiling and stuff, but that Karl died on April 13. He’s never coming back, I don’t remember that man. You’re talking to the physical me, but my soul has been killed off a long time ago.”
