The NBA is one of the top three juggernaut sports organizations in America, the others being the NFL and MLB. It’s top-tier entertainment for all ages. Whether you’re standing in a jam-packed arena, feeling the vibrations of the ecstatic crowd erupting, or watching the game from your comfortable couch after a long day of hard work, to deny the effect and excitement that the NBA delivers each and every night is foolish. The NBA is a global phenomenon between players and fans. Teams have players from everywhere around the world, and fans from all around the world come to see these players. NBA players are some of the highest-paid athletes in the world: ranging from salaries of 256 million dollars as a superstar or 2 million a year as a benchwarmer. There are many people who would jump at the opportunity to rake in that kind of dough—assuming they have the requisite skill, of course—but only the relative few make the league.
The NBA has an 82-game schedule that usually begins around late October and concludes into early April before entering the playoff season. Players have an obligation to play all of those games barring injury, personal issues, etc. It’s the same type of obligation that teachers, police officers, or doctors have for their commitment, but NBA players seem to take advantage of their “barring” excuses. Yes, it can be difficult on an athlete’s body to play 82 games of basketball on an elite level, but when were jobs supposed to be easy? This is what you signed up for; therefore, you should be present.
In the last couple of seasons, NBA players have flat-out skipped games to “rest.” Players have been “shut down” towards the end of the season because their team has no chance of making the playoffs. Sometimes players don’t play back-to-back games. Is this fair? What about the hard-working fans that bust their behind at their jobs to pay and go to one of these games in order to see their favorite players play basketball? Is it fair to the fans, who saved up their money and got their tickets early just to find out that half the team is “shut down” because it’s the end of the season? Or what about the players, who are perfectly fine to play but “shouldn’t risk the possibility of getting injured while playing for nothing?”
Here’s my stance on it. If you’re able to play, play. Don’t rob the fans that came to see you play and flat out waste their money because you want to rest a back-to-back game or because your team can’t make the playoffs. I find that entitled and unfair, especially when you’re getting paid millions on top of millions.
Players like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George of the Los Angeles Clippers are the front-runners in this issue. If a player is injured, sick, or out for a reasonable personal issue, then fine, but if not, they should be playing at every game because that’s their job and they’re getting paid millions of dollars to just play basketball. This was an issue that needed to be stabilized, and fans were letting it be known.
The league looked into the issue, voted, and passed a new rule for this issue. The NBA will now fine players and teams for “resting” their star players. “Star players’’are recognized as players who have been an NBA All-Star or have been cast upon the All-NBA Team in the last 3 seasons. Only one star player can now be rested per game. Teams have to make sure that star players are available to play during national televised games (i.e., ESPN, ABC, and TNT). The league has also now banned the unreasonable shutdowns that teams use towards the end of the season, and if a player isn’t playing, they have to be visible to the fans on the bench if they aren’t out for personal reasons. If these rules are disobeyed, investigations, fines, or other disciplinary actions will take place.
I think that these new rules are amazing for the league and will actually be a benefit for fans but also the league itself. It might generate more revenue from ticket sales, especially at the end of the season when fans are used to players sitting. Fans will actually be getting their money’s worth. Structure can be tricky with high-paid professional athletes because some players are getting paid so much that a couple of fines won’t hurt them in the slightest, but this new rule is definitely a gigantic step forward for the league and its fans.
Let’s see how the 2023–2024 NBA season shapes out regarding load management.