Sixers coach Doc Rivers encouraged Matisse Thybulle to get vaccinated but continues ‘to support the kid’

Coach Doc Rivers has known all season that 76ers starting wing Matisse Thybulle was not vaccinated against COVID-19. Rivers added he “encouraged [Thybulle] all year” to receive the required second shot.

Now, Thybulle’s decision is about to negatively impact the Sixers in their first-round playoff series against the Raptors that starts Saturday, because he is ineligible to enter Canada to play in Games 3 and 4 in Toronto. Still, Rivers said, “I’ve got to support the kid.”

“As a coach, you’ve got to be a human, too,” Rivers said following Tuesday’s practice. “It just puts you in a tough spot. … I told him I didn’t agree. But I told him I support him, and I will. And I’ll make sure, as much as I can, that his teammates support him. Tough spot for us to be in, but it is what it is.”

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Rivers added Tuesday that Thybulle’s part-time availability will not change the Sixers’ immediate preparations, since Thybulle will be able to play in Games 1 and 2 at the Wells Fargo Center. Thybulle is one of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders, a particularly useful skill against a Raptors roster that is long and rangy.

“That’s the one thing, as a staff, we decided,” Rivers said. “We’ll cross Game 3 and 4 when we get to Game 3 and 4. I want to prepare for Game 1 and 2. I don’t want to have a second plan and the distraction of that. We’ll get to Game 3 when we get to Game 3. But the first two games, we are whole, and that’s how we’re going to work.”

It is worth wondering, though, if Thybulle has lost his starting job. Thybulle moved into the first group earlier this season while veteran Danny Green labored through a string of injuries and subpar play. But Green started the game Thybulle had to miss at Toronto last Thursday, and the Sixers’ next game at home against Indiana. When asked why Green remained the starter, Rivers cited continuity and acknowledged a potential playoff series against Toronto was a factor.

Rivers had previously been vague about Thybulle’s situation. Thybulle addressed the media on the subject for the first time after Sunday’s regular-season finale, when Toronto was solidified as the Sixers’ first-round opponent. Thybulle said he got the first Pfizer dose months ago, but not the second to complete the series.

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Thybulle’s reasoning for not finishing vaccination, he said, was because breakthrough infections in vaccinated people revealed that the vaccine would not 100% eliminate the possibility of him contracting and spreading the virus. However, that was never promised in released scientific data on the vaccines’ purpose and efficacy. To protect oneself and others, the CDC recommends that everyone who is eligible receive a vaccine to slow the spread of COVID-19, including the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. People who are up to date are also advised to receive a booster shot.

Thybulle also cited his upbringing on alternative medicine as a reason for refusing to complete vaccination. His late mother, Elizabeth, earned a degree from the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, which is a member of the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges. That organization endorsed COVID-19 vaccines last year, and lobbied for its members to be allowed to administer them.

Before taking questions at his post-practice media session, Rivers addressed the shooting in a Brooklyn subway station that, as of Tuesday afternoon, had injured at least 16 people. There were 10 passengers shot, according to authorities.

“It’s just amazing the crime and the shooting and guns,” Rivers said. “We have a problem in Philadelphia with that, as well. I don’t have any answers. But I think we should all talk about it as much as we can, so that’s what I’m doing.”

Rivers played for the New York Knicks from 1992-94. As a coach, he has been outspoken about social issues, including an emotional speech when Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot in the back by police in Kenosha, Wis., while the NBA was in its bubble in 2020.

After missing the Sixers’ final two regular-season games with knee tendinopathy, reserve forward Georges Niang practiced Tuesday, the team said.

Rivers said Saturday that Niang’s injury was not serious, and that he would be playing if it were the postseason. Niang averaged career-highs in points (9.2), rebounds (2.7), assists (1.3) and minutes played (22.8) this season while shooting 43.7% from the floor and 40.3% from three-point range.