The NBA tipped off its annual preseason games this weekend on Oct. 4 with the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Brooklyn Nets at Staples Center Arena.

The NBA is entering it’s 75th season this year, but this season will be more normal before the pandemic suspended the NBA on March 11, 2020 and caused the NBA to introduce safety procedures for it’s players and staff.

A couple of procedures that players and staff had to follow were daily COVID testing and staying in their hotel rooms while playing games in different cities. 

Prior to the start of the new season the NBA introduced Covid-19 protocols that include unvaccinated players having to get tested daily and have a separate transportation rather than being in the same transportation as the fully vaccinated players.

Unvaccinated players are being restricted from doing things that vaccinated players do, for example, New York and San Francisco  have a mandate for every player to be vaccinated in order to play in home games and attend practice.

NBA Superstar Kyrie Irving who plays for the Brooklyn Nets, is currently at risk of missing home games for the Nets and will not be paid for the games he misses due to him not being vaccinated for personal reasons.

Toronto has just recently informed the NBA about players that are not vaccinated and breach covid protocols can face up to 6 months in prison and fines that can go up to 700k.Other cities don’t have that mandate that requires players to be vaccinated in order to play. 

Many preseason games have tipped off and there were a couple of intense games that went down to the wire like the Houston Rockets vs Washington Wizards game which took place on Oct. 5, and a very eye grabbing game which marked the debut of Russell Westbrook playing as a Laker alongside with LeBron James vs the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 8.