LeBron James and Stephen Curry are among several players set to benefit from the new NBA rule. The NBA has recently introduced a policy aimed at reducing the number of games star players miss. However, these new rules come with exceptions as the league tries to manage the way teams handle their star players.
This new rule is particularly important as the NBA plans to sign a new TV rights deal extension. Many teams’ tendency to rest players during the lengthy season clashes with the league’s goal of filling seats and attracting TV viewers.
Why LeBron James, Steph Curry are exempt from the NBA’s new resting rule?
The NBA passed a new rule that will limit the way teams can rest their star players which will help them feature in games without being rested unnecessarily. This rule aims to reduce load management, imposing fines on teams that violate it. Any team that defaults on this rule will face a fine, starting from $100,000.
This applies to resting star players in nationally televised and in-season tournament games or resting multiple star players at the same time. The new policy defines a star player as any player who has been selected to an All-NBA or All-Star team in the previous three seasons, with some exceptions for players that meet the criteria.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks regarding the new rule says, “Stars who are 35 years old by the season opener, or who have tallied up 34,000 regular-season minutes or a total of 1,000 combined regular-season and playoff games, will receive prior load management approval from the league.”
LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant all meet these criteria and are therefore exempted. This exception also applies to players like Chris Paul, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, and Mike Conley.
Teams can request in advance to rest players with a history of injuries, but each case will be evaluated individually. Factors such as personal reasons, actual injuries, roster management, and the need for flexibility later in the season will be considered when deciding whether to approve player rest.
Which NBA team is going to be most affected by the new rule?
Following the recent policy by the NBA, some teams will benefit greatly from the load management policy. However, The Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors will be among the teams most affected by this policy because they have numerous star players who meet the criteria set out in the rule.
Specifically, this new rule targets teams with star players who have been chosen for NBA All-Star or All-NBA teams in the previous three seasons. The Warriors, for instance, have five such players: Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, and Chris Paul.
The Timberwolves have star players like Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards, Mike Conley, and Rudy Gobert who also meet the criteria. So, these teams will have to figure out when and how to let their star players take breaks to follow the new rule.
