When the NBA’s board of governors met on Wednesday, it adopted new rules regarding the resting of healthy players in an attempt to curb the load management issues that have become frequent in the league in recent years, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The NBA’s competition committee recommended a plan that would ultimately give the league office authority for greater oversight over discipline for missed games and an ability to fine teams over $1 million for each instance of violating resting rules, sources said.
As the league negotiates a new national television rights deal (the current one runs through the 2024-25 season), NBA commissioner Adam Silver has been determined to increase player participation. So what does this mean for the league, the players and the fans? Will this mean LeBron James won’t be affected because he’s older than 35? Would the Boston Celtics be able to sit both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in consecutive games? We’re answering the big questions.
What are the new rules?
The NBA first implemented a player resting policy (PRP) entering the 2017-18 season. Since 2017, teams have been prohibited from resting healthy players for any high-profile and nationally televised game. If a team violated this policy, it would result in a fine of at least $100,000. Also included in the PRP were rules that prohibited teams from resting multiple players or resting players for away games.
Those rules will now be replaced with a more stringent player participation policy (PPP) that will go into effect at the start of the 2023-24 season.
Under the policy that is expected to be approved Wednesday, teams must comply with the below rules when deciding to rest a star player (defined as one who has been an All-Star or on an All-NBA team in any of the previous three seasons).
