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76ers' Matisse Thybulle reveals he's not fully vaccinated, can't play in Canada vs. Raptors

Ryan Young
·Staff writer
·4 min read

The Philadelphia 76ers won’t have Matisse Thybulle with them when they take on the Toronto Raptors in Canada during their opening-round playoff series.

The 76ers officially secured the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, and will open the postseason against the Raptors on Saturday. Coach Doc Rivers, though, confirmed on Sunday that Thybulle will be “ineligible to play” in Games 3 and 4 of that series in Canada.

Thybulle, who was also ineligible to play last week at Scotiabank Arena, finally revealed on Sunday night that he is not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — which is a requirement for all travelers to get into Canada.

“Yeah, I’m not fully vaccinated,” he said, via The Athletic’s Rich Hofmann. “This was a decision I made a long time ago. I thought a lot about what I would say here. Essentially I made this choice and I thought I can keep it to myself, I can keep it private, but people are always going to wonder why.”

Matisse Thybulle isn't fully vaccinated against COVID-19

Thybulle — who had not talked publicly about his status before now but had entered the league’s health and safety protocols twice this season — said he grew up in a “holistic household” with “Chinese medicine and naturopathic doctors.”

He said he received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, but then felt like he didn’t need to get the second when learning that he could still catch the disease after being vaccinated. "I just didn't feel like it would benefit me," he said of the second shot.

The vaccine, of course, helps to prevent people from getting extremely sick and dying from the disease.

“Just with that upbringing, coming into the situation I felt like I had a solid foundation of medical resources that could serve me beyond what this vaccine could do for me,” he said. “As things escalated and as this situation has played out, I’ve obviously had to reconsider and look at it differently … So for me in my reasoning, it felt like getting vaccinated was not something I needed to do to protect other people and was something I wouldn’t have to do to then protect myself.”

In order to enter Canada, all travelers must be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Raptors players also have to be fully vaccinated in order to enter the United States for games, so the rule — which is set up by each respective government, not the NBA — does work both ways. The Raptors are fully vaccinated.

Thybulle has averaged a career-high 5.7 points and 2.3 rebounds per game so far this season in Philadelphia, his third with the team. He is in the third year of his initial four-year deal with the 76ers, and lost out on about $31,000 in game pay when he was deemed ineligible last week.

Thybulle will be allowed to play in Games 1 and 2 of the series, but will have to watch Games 3 and 4 from the United States. If the series needs a Game 6, he won’t be able to play in that one, either.

The 25-year-old said he wasn’t asked to get vaccinated by his team directly, but that it was “suggested and offered to me.” Even though he admitted the decision was hard for him, he wasn't going to be swayed.

“Having had this stance I’ve had for almost a year now, I just felt like it couldn’t be something I could be forced to do because of rules or regulation changes,” Thybulle said. “And it just seemed like the right thing for me to see through. And unfortunately, the repercussions of that are going to mean missing games and not being there for my teammates.”

Philadelphia 76ers guard Matisse Thybulle
Philadelphia 76ers guard Matisse Thybulle won't be able to play against the Raptors in Canada in the postseason. (AP/Ashley Landis) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)