There has been a storm brewing over the NBA as of the last few weeks as teams such as the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers have started resting their top players in preparation for the postseason. The Commissioner of the NBA Adam Silver released a statement about teams resting players, specifically on nationally televised games.
“As always, our aim is to serve NBA fans with the best matchups involving the league’s top stars and we share the fans’ disappointment,” Silver said. “We understand this is a complex issue and we’re working closely with the NBA to best address it going forward from a media partnership standpoint.”
After LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving rested against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday in a prime-time game, the conversation heated up. People started calling James and the Cavs out about it and when reporters asked James about Silver’s memo on Tuesday he had some important points to make.
“I don’t understand why it’s become a problem now because I started to sit out a couple of games,” James said. “Pop’s been doing this for 10 years, 12 years, 15 years and everybody was like, ‘You know what that’s the smartest thing Pop has ever done. Give his guys a couple of games off and here they go with five championships. It’s the smartest thing.’”
James is coming off an NBA Championship and his seventh straight NBA Finals appearance. He is averaging the second-most minutes played in the entire league at 37.6 per game in his 14th season. He has never missed a large amount of time due to injuries and an argument many people raise is that he deserves some rest.
There is no concrete decision on what the penalty for teams resting players. I would keep an eye on a small drop in information on this story and in a few weeks or maybe over the summer a statement that talks about penalizing teams who rest when they are playing a nationally broadcasted game. They say that they care about every game, but I think that will be a compromise.
As science involving the sport and how resting players continues to improve, changes will happen to accommodate them. Nothing will stay the same if improvements can better the league.
“I do recognize, though, that there isn’t an easy solution to that problem,” Silver said. “I’m sympathetic to fans who turn out — whether they buy tickets to games or watching games on television — and don’t see their favorite player on the floor. But we also have to be realistic that the science has gotten to the point where there is that direct correlation that we’re aware of between fatigue and injuries. And as tough as it is for our fans to miss one of their favorite players for a game, it’s far better than having them get injured and be out for long periods of time. So we’re always still looking to strike that right balance.”
All quotes provided by ESPN and Cleveland.com
