Team executives and other health officials around the NBA said they expect that more players will have to enter health and safety protocols after Christmas and New Year's due to the likelihood of increasing cases of COVID-19 nationwide as people gather indoors for the holidays.
Looming over the current uptick is the spread of the Omicron variant nationally, though one league source said it hasn't yet been detected in the NBA. Entering the season, infectious disease experts told ESPN that the winter months would be the most challenging.
"Most of us consider it a matter of when, not if," a Western Conference general manager said of the Omicron variant spreading through the NBA.