Rust shouldn’t be much of a problem for NBA players this season.

Just two months and two days after the Los Angeles Lakers finished off the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, the league is tipping off another season Tuesday.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the NBA to take a four-month pause last season, dragging out its playoffs until well through the fall. That led to the shortest layoff between seasons in the league's history.

But before we find out whether LeBron James and the Lakers can defend their title, the NBA must first survive another season in which COVID-19 will loom large.

The NBA has popped its “bubble.” Teams will no longer be sequestered in Disney World, as they were for the final regular season games and playoffs last season. That experiment worked — there were no coronavirus cases in the bubble. But now, teams will return to playing in their regular arenas, with the exception of the Toronto Raptors, who will call Tampa, Florida, home because of travel restrictions in Canada.

Teams are playing 72-game schedules, 10 fewer than usual, with the playoffs concluding in late July. The league has only released the first half of the schedule so far to allow for more flexibility later should it need to shuffle games around due to virus outbreaks, although it says it won’t postpone games over a small number of infections on a team. 

Other precautions being taken include limiting teams’ travel parties to 45 people and scheduling some baseball-type series — back-to-back games between the same teams at the same location — to cut down on travel. And the All-Star Game has been canceled, although there still will be a midseason break. 

Players are being tested daily for COVID-19. Fines and suspensions could be handed down if they don’t follow safety protocols. But positive cases are still expected, just as we’ve seen in every other sport during the pandemic. Anyone who tests positive will be out of the lineup at least 12 days, longer if they are symptomatic, per NBA rules.

Commissioner Adam Silver said Monday that he is confident the NBA will be able to navigate its way through the pandemic once again.

“I think we are prepared for isolated cases; in fact, based on what we’ve seen in the preseason, based on watching other leagues operating outside a bubble, unfortunately, it seems somewhat inevitable,” Silver said. “We’re prepared for all contingencies.”

When it comes to COVID-19 vaccines, however, Silver vowed that “in no form or way will we jump the line."

Only a handful of teams will allow a limited number of fans in their arenaes to start the season: the Raptors, Magic, Grizzlies, Jazz, Cavaliers and Rockets.

No arena is planning to have more than 4,000 fans in the seats at this point – and less fans means less revenue. Silver said that another season without fans could see revenues dip about 40%.

“Tens of thousands of people rely on our league and its related businesses for their livelihoods,” Silver said. “We also feel a responsibility to our fans. People continue to look at sports as a break from the challenges of the pandemic and as a small reminder of what life was like before COVID-19."

"It’s a piece of life I feel we’re able to get back, for the time being," he added.

Then there's the league's focus on social justice, which dominated much of the conversation for the NBA restart earlier this year. While "Black Lives Matter" will not be written on the court this year, fighting racial inequality will still play a big role.

“I think there’s also been in a new awakening among the players in the league as to the impact they can have when they use the platforms they have to speak out on issues that are important to them,” Silver said. “So, I think it’s a combination of the collective action that the league will be taking together with its players and coaches, and on top of that players realizing the enormous reach they have with their voices.”

A number of NBA arenas turned into polling sites on or ahead of Election Day, one of the initiatives that came out following the Milwaukee Bucks' boycott protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake by police. Those polling sites were at the heart of cities in key battleground states, including Detroit, Phoenix, and Atlanta – the most populous cities in states that swung from President Donald Trump to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

“For myself, it’s all about action. It’s all about doing it,” Toronto Raptors all-star guard Kyle Lowry said. “It may not say it on the court or it may not say it on our jerseys or on the back of the jerseys, but it resonates when you’re doing things in your communities, to uplift your communities and to uplift other people. So that’s a big thing, is continuing, yourself, to make it matter.”

As for the action on the court, there is no shortage of fascinating storylines to watch. Can Giannis Antetokounmpo, who inked a $228 million contract last week, and the Milwaukee Bucks finally get over the hump and reach the finals, or even win it all? Can the Brooklyn Nets, led by superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, deliver on their promise? And which uniform will James Harden be wearing at season’s end?

The NBA is offering up a juicy two-game slate for opening night. In Brooklyn, Durant will face his old team, the Golden State Warriors, at 7 p.m. Eastern. Then at 10 p.m. Eastern, the Lakers will host the Clippers in not only a battle of Los Angeles franchises but also of the teams that finished with the Western Conference’s two best records last season.

The rest of the league will play their season openers Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.