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Ramona Shelburne, ESPN senior editor
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called the practice of teams resting their big-name players “an extremely important issue for our league” in a memo sent Monday to team owners and obtained by ESPN.
In the memo, Silver informs teams that the issue will be a major topic of discussion at the NBA’s next Board of Governors meeting on April 6 in New York and warns of “significant sanctions” for teams that do not do not follow league rules. for providing “notice to the league office, opponent and media immediately upon determining that a player would not participate in a game due to rest.”
He says it is unacceptable for owners to not get involved or to hand over decision-making on this matter to others in their organization, who may not have the same awareness of the impact as these decisions can have on “fans and business partners,” the reputation of the league and the “perception of our game.”
After the Riders have decided to put their Big Three to rest LeBron James, Kyrie Irving And Kevin Love for a Defeat 108-78 At Los Angeles Clippers On Saturday, Cleveland general manager David Griffin said the league office called him shortly after the team announced its decision.
But the general manager also said it wasn’t his job to appease the league and its television partners (including ESPN).
“They’re paying me to win a championship,” Griffin told ESPN. “I’m not too concerned about the perception of that. We literally let one guy rest tonight, and everyone else was reasonably injured, so I don’t feel like we did anything terribly blatant.”
On Monday, ESPN released a statement regarding teams resting their star players during nationally televised games.
“As always, our goal is to serve NBA fans with the best games involving the league’s top stars and we share the fans’ disappointment. We understand that this is a complex issue and we are working in close collaboration with the NBA to best respond to them in the future. from a media partnership point of view,” the press release said.
It was the second straight week that a team that made the final rested several star players in the nationally televised game on ABC. A week earlier, the Warriors of the Golden State sat Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Green Draymond And Andre Iguodala for their Western Conference showdown against the San Antonio Spurs.
Steve Kerr, Golden State coach told ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh that he made his decision in order to complete the team’s eight-game, eight-city streak in just 13 days – including two cross-country flights and a total of 11,000 miles traveled.
Kerr’s frustration was due to the fact that six of those eight games were nationally televised, meaning some dates could have been affected by the needs of broadcast partners.
Griffin said the Cavs’ situation was different than the Warriors, who rested healthy players against the Spurs.
“It has nothing to do with last time,” he told ESPN, referring to last weekend. “It was three healthy guys who rested. That’s not what happened tonight. Yeah, it sucks from a timing standpoint. I feel bad for the league. Really .I feel bad for the league, but it is what it is for us.”, from an injury standpoint. As you know, we haven’t had a team together for more than a week at a time all year.”
When asked if ABC will have to consider not scheduling these marquee games if the stars remain seated, Cavaliers coach Ty Lue admitted feeling bad about the situation.
“I know,” he said. “Sorry, ABC. It wasn’t intentional. It’s serious. So you don’t have to have setbacks to play a game on national television. We’re smart about it.”
Silver said in February that reducing the preseason and starting the regular season earlier was implemented in the new collective bargaining agreement to address the issue of player rest and help reduce injuries.
“That’s why we’re adding an extra week to the season,” Silver said during his All-Star Game press conference. “We have reduced the number of games we will play in the preseason and added a full week to the regular season. … This additional week in our schedule will allow us to reduce back-to-back games, reduce This will reduce the number of times where our teams are forced to play four games in five nights, and this will allow coaches to give their players extra rest.
“So we hope this will reduce player rest during marquee matches,” Silver added. “I recognize, however, that there is no easy solution to this problem, and I sympathize with fans who come – whether they buy tickets to matches or watch matches on television – and do not see their favorite player on the field. But we also have to be realistic: science has gotten to the point where there is a direct correlation that we are aware of between fatigue and injuries. And as hard as it is for our fans to miss one of their favorite players for a match is much better than seeing them get injured and out for long periods of time, so we’re always looking to find that right balance.
ESPN’s Marc Stein and Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.
