Fansided

Adam Silver warns teams about resting players

Feb 18, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media during the Commissioner Press Conference at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 18, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media during the Commissioner Press Conference at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, is tired of NBA teams resting their players and wants to do something about it.

Adam Silver is ready to lay down the law. Well, more or less, but he is tired of teams resting healthy players. Healthy players resting for games has become a more common practice as teams get wiser about physical health and try to protect their players for the long haul. Some current and former players argue that rest is important because of how hectic the schedule can be. Others argue that if there is a game to be played, then you should be in the game fighting for your team. Karl Malone, LeBron James, and Charles Barkley have all spoken out on this issue recently.

Silver sent a memo out to owners (h/t ESPN) stating that resting players is, “an extremely significant issue for our league.” In the memo, he said that resting players will be a main topic of conversation during their board of governors meeting on April 6. He warned of “significant penalties” if the teams did not abide by the league’s rule of telling the media, the league office, and their opponent that a certain player is resting. Silver said that it is unacceptable that owners are leaving the decision up to others in the organization about which players need rest.

This recent outburst from Silver comes from the Cleveland Cavaliers resting their three big players (Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, and Kevin Love) against the Los Angeles Clippers for a nationally televised Saturday night game. David Griffin, the Cavaliers general manager, said that after the team announced their decision, the league called Griffin to discuss the choice to rest their players. When questioned by ESPN about his decision, Griffin said, “they’re paying me to win a championship. I’m not overly concerned about the perception of it.”

Next: The biggest NBA games left on the schedule

It’s interesting that Silver would want owners to have a big hand in the day-to-day operations of the team. Owners have hired others to take care of their daily operations so they don’t have to. Regardless, we will likely be talking about this issue for some time to come.