Thread by @mcten

Marc Gasol: "We do as much as possible as best as possible to stay on course and do our job, but I have no idea what this might turn into. Hopefully we can get through this month, which they anticipate being a tough month and then we’ll go from there." Thread on LAL & COVID ...

The NBA updated its COVID protocols while the Lakers were on the road in Houston, about 5 hours and 15 minutes before tipoff Tuesday.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel said, "we disseminated the information via text message." While Gasol credited LAL brass for their communication throughout the season, about two hours before tip he admitted, "I haven’t read them all yet. I haven’t read them all. There’s quite a few."

One of the updated policies now forbids players from having non-team guests in their rooms on the road. When asked if the Lakers would now have to institute room checks like camp counselors, Vogel said, "I don't know what the enforcement is going to look like."

Both Vogel and Gasol said that living in L.A. has prepared LAL for whatever changes to the protocol that could occur. "When there’s different protocols, you stick with which is more strict and L.A. County, I think it’s even more strict than the NBA protocols so far," Gasol said.

Even if players and coaches are vigilant, there is the family loophole. Gasol: "It’s hard because you have other people too. It’s not like you go home and you lock yourself in a closet. You have family. They get to move around a little bit more. ...

Gasol continued: "Even though everything is closed in L.A., they get to go to the grocery store, or you get stuff delivered at home or your kids play outside and whatnot. So you try to do as best as possible and hope for the best outcome."

Either by luck or by care, or some combination of the two, L.A. has only had three safety protocol breaches so far this season (that we know of). Some teams have dealt with 8-9 players in violation at the same time - either from positive tests or contact tracing.

Vogel is rolling with the punches, even joking about the new restriction that limits locker room meetings to 10 minutes or less. "I’m really not stressed about it at all ... I’ll be in there talking like an auctioneer, like they do, they talk real fast and everything."

LAL won in ORL and currently has the best record in the NBA, with COVID as a constant. Vogel: "We’re trying to get an NBA season in. Whatever we need to do to get that done in the safest way possible, we’re all on board for doing it. Whatever they feel is necessary, we’ll do."