Resting players has been a hot topic in the NBA world for a few years now. More and more teams are opting to rest players who are either older or have a heightened injury chance for certain games as a precaution. As one would expect, the NBA is not a huge fan of that.
League commissioner Adam Silver recently appeared on SiriusXM NBA Radio and spoke about what alternatives there are for teams opting to rest players. Following transcribed by Dan Feldman of Pro Basketball Talk:
I get it for those disappointed fans. Part of me would prefer that, if you’re going to rest a player, rest him for the home fans, because they get to see that player all the time. But on the other hand, I recognize it’s matchup specific. Once again, I’m not sure that having an absolute rule that if a player is rested, he must be rested at home works either. So, it’s not an easy issue to resolve.
Silver’s idea certainly makes sense. A fan of a Western Conference team, for example, only has one opportunity to watch LeBron James play. If the Cavs rest their aging superstar, then that fan is out of luck.
However, there is really no true way of enforcing teams to rest players only at home. There is nothing stopping teams from listing a fake injury as the excuse to rest a player. That’s not to mention that many home fans don’t necessarily have a ton of opportunities to see their team and favorite players play, either.
This doesn’t seem like something the NBA can really fix. I also don’t think it’s a huge issue. It definitely is a bummer for many fans, but it does not happen often enough to warrant league intervention.
