The NBA league office noticed.
In a memo sent to all 30 NBA teams on Monday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said player rest had “become an extremely important issue for our league,” and said there would be a ” in-depth discussion” on this practice during the board meeting on April 6. Governors meeting in New York.
ESPN was first to report the memo, which was later obtained by the Washington Post.
What is clear is that, with attention around the league for Warriors coach Steve Kerr and Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue’s decisions to sit their stars on back-to-back weekends, The NBA isn’t happy that the talk surrounding some of its star players’ games isn’t about the action on the court. Instead, the focus turned to healthy players in street clothes on the sidelines.
To that end, Silver implored the league’s owners to get involved in the decision-making process, saying teams deciding to sit players can have a bigger impact than just that one game.
“Decisions of this type not only involve issues of player health and team performance on the field,” Silver said in the memo. “They can also affect fans and commercial partners, impact our reputation and damage the perception of our game. Given the scale of the stakes, it is simply not acceptable for governors to fail to act. do not involve or delegate decision-making authority on these issues to other members of their organization.
Even though the NBA is visibly frustrated with the situation, the league could find itself on a slippery slope if it tries to dictate who can sit out — and who can’t. The Warriors sat Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala in San Antonio on the second night of a back-to-back set after playing eight games in eight cities in 13 days – a stretch in which they had lost Kevin Durant out for several weeks with a grade 2 MCL sprain and shin bruise.
Cleveland, meanwhile, sat Kevin Love as part of his recovery from recent knee surgery and Kyrie Irving due to a knee strain against the Clippers, and decided it might as well make for a night of leave to James – especially since the Cavaliers were scheduled to play in Los Angeles. again the following night against the Lakers.
The common thread in most cases where teams sit players: back-to-back games. The NBA has tried to reduce them, as well as stretches of four games in five nights, and next season the preseason will be a week shorter to help spread out the schedule.
But even though the league acknowledges the fatigue problem, it was clearly upset that it didn’t announce that James, Love and Irving would sit until pregame access. Cavaliers general manager David Griffin said he received a call from the league to explain its decision, and in the memo, Silver made it clear that teams that fail to provide proper notice to absent stars will be disciplined.
“Please also remember that under current league rules, teams are required to notify the league office, their opponent and the media immediately upon determining that a player will not participate in a game due to rest,” the memo said. . “Failure to comply with these rules will result in significant penalties. »
Silver’s predecessor, David Stern, fined the Spurs $250,000 in 2012 for doing “a disservice to the league and its fans” after coach Gregg Popovich decided to fire Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginóbili and Danny Green at home instead of playing the last match of the season. a six-game road trip to Miami — and not telling anyone until right before the game.
At the time, Kerr – who then worked for TNT as an analyst – took to Twitter to give his take on the matter.
“If the NBA punishes the Spurs for sitting players, that opens a huge can of worms,” Kerr said. “This is a serious legal challenge for the league.”
The can is not completely open yet. But after Kerr and Lue turned the last two Saturdays into conversations about rest, the topic isn’t going away anytime soon. And, as Silver’s memo shows, it’s a topic the league is willing to address.
