Ring obsession has changed the NBA

A couple weeks back on ESPN’s pre-game show, Jalen Rose made a statement about why so many NBA teams rest their players now. He didn’t do the old player thing and bring up the current generation being “soft” or any of the usual hot takes that comes up with resting. Instead, he made a comment about what basketball fandom in general has become: Ring obsessed.

The other night, the Cavaliers rested LeBron James and other key players in a nationally televised prime time Saturday night game. When he was asked about it afterward, James spoke on the length of an NBA season and how it beats down on players. The need to rest comes from the grind, which is extremely difficult to handle for even the most energetic players. This is especially important to title teams hoping to make a run at the NBA Finals.

The topic of resting is now dominating NBA circles due to the Cavs’ choice. Adam Silver put out a strongly worded memo to NBA owners magnifying the situation that much further. Star players resting has become a massively divisive topic. Is the player’s health the highest priority or does it do too much damage to the league’s overall brand? Is it really fair to the fans buying tickets that they might not get a chance to see the player they paid to see?

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A lot of this comes back to Rose’s comments from a couple weeks ago. Resting is a result of putting valuing into rings, and while that doesn’t fully scratch the surface of a topic with much depth, it does hit the right chord. Resting is, by and large, a tactic teams use to be in the best possible shape for the playoffs. That’s not the only tactic teams employ these days with the intention of winning it all. Tanking and “The Process” — both highly divisive tactics employed by NBA teams — are an effect of putting titles first. For some, it’s no longer okay to just be a good team that makes the playoffs. Competing for titles should be the priority, and when a team can’t win the title then they need to tank. Some front offices, and fans, appear to believe that this is the way it should be.

Cavaliers general manager David Griffin confirmed these beliefs for his own team in a statement defending his decision to rest the team’s star players. He mentioned the health of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love being the top priority, but a healthy James was sat to try and keep him fresh. Cleveland was about to begin a long road trip and this seemed like a good opportunity to rest James. In a vacuum this makes sense as James is playing an absurdly high amount of minutes despite the age and minutes on his body. Nobody in the NBA has played more basketball than James the past six years, so if anybody has earned the right to rest it’s him.

However, James also has a responsibility to entertain in an entertainment business. Sitting out a national TV game as the prime attraction hurts that business. It also hurts those fans that attended the game specifically to see him the one time all season he plays the Clippers. Griffin’s response? “It cuts both ways,” Griffin said. “We’re protecting the Cavaliers fans that are watching us and have expectations that we’re going to compete at the highest level.” Griffin is resting James because he believes in the big picture of winning a title. To him this random game in March is nowhere near as important as seven games in June.

The obsession with rings may have even gone past the team-building process and into the judgement of individual players. James has spent his entire career being harped on for the amount of rings on his fingers. It would appear that super teams are formed, with Kevin Durant leaving for the team that just beat him, because players are so focused on getting a ring. Internet debates devolve into “Well, does he have a ring?” like it’s some kind of trump card. Ring obsession has completely changed how the NBA is analyzed from top to bottom.

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Is it wrong that so many people put value in titles? No, not at all. Titles are fun and everybody should cheer for their team doing everything within their power to bring one home, but that mindset means a sacrifice. There is more to resting than rings, but if it can help teams win a title in today’s NBA then it will never stop. It doesn’t matter how many strongly worded memos and fines are sent out. Rings dominate the conscious and as long as that’s the culture of the NBA then teams and fans will follow the glitter.