7:10 p.m. ET
Tim Bontemps ESPN
The Philadelphia 76ers listed guard Matisse Thybulle as “ineligible” in Thursday’s game in Toronto against the Raptors, a sign that Thybulle might also not be able to play in the three away games of a potential playoff series between the two to play franchises.
Last week ESPN asked the four teams at the top of the conference – Philadelphia, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics – if their rosters were fully vaccinated and thus eligible to attend games in Toronto, where players must be vaccinated in order to enter the country to enter
Miami and Milwaukee confirmed to ESPN that their teams are fully vaccinated, while Boston and Philadelphia declined to comment. Thybulle has not publicly commented on whether he is vaccinated against COVID-19.
As of Wednesday night, the 76ers and Raptors would meet in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs as Nos. 4 and 5 respectively.
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Thybulle, who turned 25 last month, has emerged as one of the NBA’s best fullbacks, averaging 1.1 steals and 1.8 blocks in 25.4 minutes per game. Only seven players in the league average at least one steal and block per game, and all play more minutes than Thybulle.
Thybulle’s absence would be particularly noticeable in a Philadelphia roster that lacks much defensive talent other than himself and MVP nominee Joel Embiid, who is also a potential all-defensive team contender.
If Toronto beats Philadelphia on Thursday, it would go a long way in securing this first-round matchup for both teams. However, if the Sixers win that game and their final two games against Indiana on Saturday and Detroit on Sunday, they would be guaranteed no less than third place thanks to the Celtics and Bucks, who are currently level on points with Philadelphia at 49-. 30 records, playing in Milwaukee Thursday night.
The playoffs are scheduled to start on April 16 and 17, with games 3 and 4 of the first round – which would be held in Toronto – likely played two weeks from Wednesday.
On Wednesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said there would be no changes to the situation that unvaccinated players cannot play in Toronto and said the league had “no choice” but to operate under Canadian law on the matter .
“I mean, we have no choice but to comply with the laws of the jurisdictions in which we play,” Silver said at his press conference following this week’s Board of Governors meetings in New York. “In some cases, as we’ve seen here in New York City, they’re by city ordinances. In other cases, it is state. And in the case of Toronto, there are Canadian issues that we need to comply with. These rules are well known to all players and any player who chooses not to be vaccinated knows that they risk being banned from playing in Toronto. These are the facts under which we must all conduct ourselves.”
To be considered fully vaccinated in Canada, one must be two weeks after a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or two weeks after the second dose of the two-dose vaccines. That would mean unvaccinated players would need to have received the single-dose vaccine in order to be fully vaccinated in time to play in every game of a first-round playoff series.
The most prominent example of a player missing games because he is not vaccinated is Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who was unable to play at either the Barclays Center or Madison Square Garden in New York before the city recently changed its vaccination requirements, to allow unvaccinated athletes at home games.