On Tuesday evening, the 2025-26 NBA season is set to get underway as the Oklahoma City Thunder hit the floor at home to raise their banner and then host old friend Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets. One thing that fans noticed during preseason this year was the fact that some referees appeared to have earpieces in, which evidently allowed them to communicate with the league's replay center in Secaucus, New Jersey.
Recently, the league made a decision regarding the implementation of those earpieces moving forward into the regular season.
“UPDATE: The NBA, I'm told, has decided that earpieces worn during live play by game officials will be phased in gradually during the regular season after preseason testing … but not starting with the Opening Night games on the Tuesday schedule,” reported NBA insider Marc Stein on X, formerly Twitter.
“The NBA's current plan calls for earpieces to be clipped onto referees' uniforms starting Nov. 1 for in-ear usage during instant replay reviews and other stoppages. If further testing goes as planned, referees would then be equipped with earpieces during live play in January,” he added.
Officiating has been a huge topic of discussion among NBA fans in recent years, particularly in an era where so many of the game's stars, including reigning league MVP and NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, rely so heavily on getting to the free throw line in order to be effective.
The NBA recently made the decision to walk back the “high five” exception for fouls on shooters, meaning that contact to the hand, even after the ball is released, will result in free throws for the shooting team.
In any case, the Thunder and Rockets are set to get the NBA season underway on Tuesday evening at 7:30 PM ET from Oklahoma City, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors at 10:00 PM ET.
