According to Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving, avoiding the Covid-19 immunization cost him $100 million.
Because New York prohibits unvaccinated individuals from entering interior spaces, Irving, 30, was unable to participate in Nets home games until March of the previous season.
His ability to travel for away games was also affected by the requirements for vaccinations in other states.
The seven-time All-Star claims that by skipping vaccination, he lost out on a four-year contract extension.
“I gave up four years, 100-and-something million deciding to be unvaccinated and that was the decision,” he said.
“[Get this] contract, get vaccinated or be unvaccinated and there’s a level of uncertainty of your future, whether you’re going to be in this league, whether you’re going to be on this team, so I had to deal with that real-life circumstance of losing my job for this decision.”
On October 18, the next NBA season will begin. Irving will play for the Nets on a $36.5 million (£33.7 million) player option deal, but he may also become a free agency in the summer of 2019.
He had anticipated renewing his contract in 2021.
“We were supposed to have all that figured out before training camp last year,” Irving said. “And it just didn’t happen because of the status of me being unvaccinated.
“So, I understood their point and I had to live with it. It was a tough pill to swallow, honestly.
“I felt like I was forced with an ultimatum of whether or not I had a contract, whether or not I can be on the team [based on] whether or not I was vaccinated. I was definitely put in that position where I had to make that decision.”
However, Irving’s view was disputed by general manager Sean Marks, instead saying contract talks “stalled” when the pandemic started.
“There’s no ultimatum being given here,” Marks said. “Again, it goes back to you want people who are reliable, people who are here and accountable. All of us: staff, players, coaches, you name it.
“It’s not giving somebody an ultimatum to get a vaccine. That’s a completely personal choice.
“Two summers ago, when we were talking about contract negotiations, that was pre-citywide mandates that went in. Once the vaccine mandates came in, you knew how that’d affect playing home games. That’s when contract talks stalled.
“It didn’t get to ‘here’s the deal, now take it back’. That never happened.”