Basketball legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar told CNN that unvaccinated NBA players are not behaving like “good teammates or good citizens.” (watch above)

The six-time NBA MVP had previously told Rolling Stone “The NBA should insist that all players and staff are vaccinated or remove them from the team.”

He added, “There is no room for players who are willing to risk the health and lives of their teammates, the staff and the fans simply because they are unable to grasp the seriousness of the situation or do the necessary research.”

The NBA does not require inoculation, although laws recently passed in New York City and San Francisco will force hometown athletes performing at in-door locations to be vaccinated.

CNN explains:

Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving wasn’t physically present with his teammates at the Nets annual media day on Monday. But Irving took a question on the issue remotely.
Irving did not disclose his vaccination status — nor did he say if he expected to be vaccinated or compliant by the time the Nets return home following their preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. He said he wants “to keep that stuff private.”
“I’m a human being first,” Irving said. “Obviously living in this public sphere, it’s just a lot of questions about what’s going on in the world of Kyrie and I think I just would love to just keep that private and handle it the right way, with my team and go forward together with the plan.”

Irving made headlines in 2017 when he said the world is flat. He’s since apologized for that stance.

On CNN, Abdul Jabbar said he “can’t accept” Irving’s position on vaccines, adding “either you understand what’s going on and you’re going to do the right thing, or you don’t understand what’s going on and you’re going to continue to create all this confusion with your stance.”

That echos a sentiment Abdul Jabbar expressed to Rolling Stone: “What I find especially disingenuous about the vaccine deniers is their arrogance at disbelieving immunology and other medical experts,” he said. “Yet, if their child was sick or they themselves needed emergency medical treatment, how quickly would they do exactly what those same experts told them to do?”

About 90% of NBA players are currently vaccinated.