The past two and a half years have been crazy for the NBA as while the league kept putting out a successful product for basketball fans to enjoy, the challenge of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hindered the league from its full potential, And in some capacity, the pandemic is sill impacting the way the league is today.
Heading into the 2022-23 NBA season, the league and its fans can expect the game to be as normal as possible because of how well-equipped the world has adapted to COVID-19. However, NBA commissioner Adam Silver and his staff are still implementing health and safety protocols to ensure player safety.
According to vThe Athletic’s Shams Charania, face masks are not being required this season as the NBA’s healthy and safety protocols are as lenient as they have ever been:
NBA’s Health and Safety COVID-19 Protocols for 2022-23 season, per sources:
– Once-weekly surveillance testing for unvaccinated players
– Vaccinated players only test when symptomatic
– Isolation immediately upon positive test
– Face masks not required— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 30, 2022
The NBA and the basketball community can only hope that an unprecedented pandemic like COVID-19 will not affect the league like it did in 2020 and even last season when almost the whole league contracted the virus at one point or another, forcing teams to sign players via the hardship exception. During the Los Angeles Lakers’ COVID outbreak in December, they brought in players such as Isaiah Thomas and Darren Collison.
Now that a new normal 2022-23 NBA season is only months away, the excitement to see basketball’s brightest stars on some of the most historic teams is more alive than ever.
Schroder still a possibility for Lakers?
As far as their roster goes, the Lakers recently made their biggest move of the summer when they traded for former Utah Jazz guard Patrick Beverley, in exchange for Talen Horten-Tucker and Stanley Johnson.
With the addition of Beverley, head coach Darvin Ham has four distinct ball-handlers on his roster with Kendrick Nunn returning from injury, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Beverley himself.
As the Lakers faithful hopes Rob Pelinka is not done shaping the roster for next season, a potential next move for the Purple and Gold is bringing back savy veteran point guard Dennis Schroder.
Schroder has been linked to the Lakers this offseason, and the chance for him to return to the Lakers is reportedly still alive after the Beverley trade.
There is still uncertainty on how the Lakers starting and second unit backcourt will look next season and signing Schroder in free agency would infer that Westbrook will most likely get traded.
However, Ham has been vocal about his belief in the 2017-18 NBA MVP and even after the Beverley trade, Ham has plans to create a real and prominent role for Westbrook.
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