NBA players who refuse a COVID-19 shot will lose millions of dollars in wages.
Officials have confirmed unvaccinated players won't get paid for games they miss due to local rules around access to venues.
It's an issue that could cost one team their best player for half the season.
The Brooklyn Nets kicked off a pre-season training camp some 4000 kilometres away from New York City.
They're here in San Diego because they're not all vaccinated against COVID-19, and they all need to be, to train in New York.
"It's a personal decision," says Nets guard Bradley Beal.
The players association claims 90 percent of the players in the league are protected, but some are hesitant. And that hesitancy will soon hit them in the pocket.
The NBA says "any player who elects not to comply with local vaccination mandates will not be paid for games that he misses"
Vaccination is mandatory in San Francisco and New York, so for the Nets, seven-time all-star Kyrie Irving could be unavailable for 41 games.
"Everything will be released at a due date once we get this cleaned up," Irving says.
"But for now, please respect my privacy."
"It's not up to us to speculate what may happen," says Nets teammate Kevin Durant.
"We trust in Kyrie, and I expect us to have our whole team at some point."
And for the face of the league LeBron James, himself vaccinated, won't want to influence anyone.
"Talking about people's bodies and wellbeing, I don't feel like me personally should get involved," he says.
It seems the biggest challenge for NBA players this season could be shots they don't take.
