Regular season action may have taken a break, but NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is still hard at work. During the 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend festivities in Salt Lake City, Silver made himself available for media inquiries. Prior to the start of the NBA’s annual three-point and dunk contests, Silver spoke about a number of topics, including the postseason, trade deadline and load management. When asked about the practice of resting key players at certain points of the regular season, Silver said he doesn’t “buy into” forcing players to play more often.
“I hesitate to weigh in on an issue as to whether players are playing enough because there is real medical data and scientific data about what’s appropriate,” Silver said, according to ESPN.
“Sometimes, to me, the premise of a question as to whether players are playing enough suggests that they should be playing more — that, in essence, there should be some notion of just get out there and play. Having been in the league for a long time, having spent time with a lot of some of our great legends, I don’t necessarily think that’s the case.”
In certain instances, fans have expressed their frustration when they attend games and the league’s biggest stars are unable to play due to load management. However, Silver doesn’t believe the issue is as big of an issue as some have argued that it is.
“Even given where we are now, I don’t think the issue is quite what some suggest,” Silver said.
“I mean, our stars are not missing that many games for resting. I mean, we have injuries. I think we would all agree that’s a separate issue. But sort of as a measure of single games missed, it’s not that bad.”
