One of the biggest complaints from many fans across the NBA has been the increase in teams resting star players when healthy during the regular season. With so much emphasis being placed on having players at full strength for the playoffs, teams have taken the route of finding certain games in which to rest their stars in order to preserve them long term.
The NBA implemented a rule back in 2017 in order to prevent teams from doing so, but new, more stringent rules were recently put up to a vote for the NBA Board of Governors. These rules would prevent teams from resting both of their star players in any high-profile or nationally televised games, among other things.
And that vote has now come through with the NBA Board of Governors approving the new policy to prevent teams from resting two stars in the same game, effective at the start of the 2023-24 regular season, the league announced. Here are some of the details included in the new rules, via NBA Communications:
Under the policy, unless a team demonstrates an approved reason for a star player not to participate in a game, then, among other things, the team must:
• Manage its roster to ensure that no more than one star player is unavailable for the same game.
• Ensure that star players are available for all national television and NBA In-Season Tournament games.
• Maintain a balance between the number of one-game absences for a star player in home and road games.
• Refrain from any long-term “shutdowns” in which a star player stops playing games.
• If resting a healthy player, ensure that the player is present at the games and visible to fans.
The policy includes exceptions for injuries, personal reasons and pre-approved back-to-back restrictions based on a player’s age, career workload or serious injury history.
For the Los Angeles Lakers, this means that both LeBron James and Anthony Davis can’t rest on the same night unless one or both is legitimately injured. James was an All-Star and All-NBA selection last season while Davis was an All-Star in 2021, which falls under the past three seasons. But there are other rules coming into effect as well.
The NBA is looking for balance in home games missed vs. away games and prefer home games to be sat out. Since teams from opposite conferences and some divisions only make one road appearance in those arenas, the NBA wants fans to be able to see their favorite stars if they’re available.
National TV and In-Season Tournament games also take priority as well and the league is looking to prevent teams who are perhaps out of playoff contention from shutting down stars at the end of the regular season. There will be exceptions to these in certain situations.
Players can also move into the ‘star’ designation during the season if they were to make their first All-Star appearance. So for example, if Austin Reaves were to take that leap with the Lakers and make an All-Star team this year, he would then be subject to these rules as well.
These new rules, combined with the new 65-game threshold for end-season awards, is the NBA’s attempt to increase overall participation in the regular season while also improving fan experience around the country, being able to see their favorite players in person more regularly.
Lakers’ LeBron James prepared to commit to final Olympic run in 2024
With these new rules in place, it could be a year in which James adds a lot more minutes on his body as he is reportedly prepared to commit to one last Olympic run with Team USA in Paris.
Not only is LeBron himself reportedly ready to go, he is also recruiting the likes of Davis to join as well as Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum.
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