The NBA has been at a low stakes war with teams over resting star players, especially in important time slots. A great example of this is players like LeBron James or Kawhi Leonard sitting out nationally televised games on TNT, ESPN or ABC. They already announced they’re dismantling the dreaded “four games in five nights” and are now expected to approve rules that would possibly prohibit resting players per Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
NBA owners are expected to approve player-resting rules in September designed to cut back on teams benching healthy players for regular-season games, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports.
The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly until league owners officially adopt the rules at their next Board of Governors meeting.
The rules will be in place by the start of the 2017-18 season, and there will be consequences for teams that do not adhere to them.
It’s a move that should please fans and the league’s business partners.
This would be a major step in what the league believes to be a gigantic problem currently in the NBA. If this report proves to be true, we may have seen “DNP-Rest” for the last time.
