LeBron James wouldn't confirm if he plans to get a COVID-19 vaccine, saying it's a private discussion he'll have with his family

• LeBron James says he will keep his decision about getting a COVID-19 vaccine "private."
• The NBA has no plans to make vaccination mandatory, Commissioner Adam Silver said Saturday.
• According to ESPN, a number of the NBA's top players are concerned about getting the vaccine.

LeBron James would not confirm whether or not he plans to get a COVID-19 vaccine, saying he'll keep that decision private in a Sunday media appearance.

James was responding to a question from a reporter following comments from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Saturday that the league will not require players to get vaccines.

Silver said that he believes "most players" will ultimately choose to be vaccinated regardless.

"My hunch is that most players ultimately will choose to get vaccinated," Silver said speaking in a virtual press conference during All-Star Weekend, according to ESPN.

"They have to make personal decisions at the end of the day - and I take that very seriously, and I take concerns very seriously. But my sense is most will, ultimately, decide it is in their interest to get vaccinated."

Asked on Sunday about Silver's comments and whether he plans to get vaccinated himself, James didn't give a definite answer, and said that he'll likely keep any decision on vaccination private.

"That's a conversation that, you know, my family and I will have. Pretty much keep that to a private thing," he said.

"Obviously I seen Adam had his comments about the vaccination and what not. But things like that, when you decide to do something, that's a conversation between you and your family and not for everybody, so I'll keep it that way."

Following the release of the COVID-19 vaccine in January, the NBA released a series of videos which featured Hall of Famers getting vaccinated in an effort try and encourage current players to do the same.

Among those featured in the videos were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, and Julius Erving.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, however, the public service announcements were met with hesitation by many of the league's senior players.

A report from Wojnarowski in February read: "The NBA's outreach to the agents of many of the league's elite players - with hopes of getting stars to participate in PSAs to promote the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine - has been met with a tepid response, sources said.

"Player apprehensions about receiving the vaccine are consistent with those that also exist in Black communities throughout the country, agents and players told ESPN.

Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, also said in an interview with Yahoo Sports in January that many black players are hesitant to get the vaccine.

Part of that hesitancy, Roberts said, is because of longstanding mistrust in some aspects of healthcare, driven partly by the notorious Tuskegee Experiment, in which Black men were unwittingly experimented on by white doctors.

The experiment, which took place between 1932 and 1972, aimed to study untreated syphilis in African American males.

During the infamous experiment, US scientists monitored about 400 Black men with syphilis but did not treat them for the disease or even tell them they had it.

Of the 399 people in the study with syphilis, 28 men died from the disease, while 100 more died from complications. 40 wives were also infected, while 19 children were also born with the disease.

"We have on many, many occasions been the scientific Guinea pigs," Roberts said, adding: "There was a history of abuse of our community in the space and has not been lost or forgotten."

It isn't clear if James' refusal to discuss his plans for vaccination are because he holds skepticism about the process, or simply because he does not want to discuss it in public.