The NBA took steps Wednesday to ensure that its biggest players are front and center in more games, particularly nationally televised matchups, with its new policy that will see a number of ‘stars’ sometimes ineligible to be rested.
The league’s board of governors approved a new player participation policy that will take effect for this upcoming season, which prohibits teams from resting two star players in the same game.
A star player is someone who has been an All-Star or on the All-NBA team in any of the prior three seasons.
Under the new policy, teams will now have to manage their rosters to ensure only one star player is unavailable per game at the most.
There are 50 players who fit into the star category but who are they and why could some of the league’s biggest names sometimes be exempt?
The NBA took steps to ensure that its biggest players are front and center in more games
The league’s reigning MVP, Joel Embiid, is one of 50 players who qualify as ‘stars’
The NBA’s all-time leading points scorer LeBron James could sometimes be a notable exemption and that’s because he, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant fit into a category of their own.
They slip into a small pool of stars who are either 35 or older at the start of the season or have played in over 34,000 regular-season minutes or 1,000 games in their careers.
In this case, while they still qualify as ‘stars,’ the league will allow teams to submit written requests in advance for older players for back-to-back games, including national television appearances or in-season tournament games.
If a team feels that a star player is unable to play in back-to-back games, it must provide to the NBA written information at least one week prior justifying why the player’s participation should be limited, according to ESPN.
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For example, for a game against Brooklyn in January the Lakers sat out both LeBron and Anthony Davis before both playing the following night against New York.
Under the new policy, the Lakers could have sought approval for LeBron to miss the Nets game because he has played at least 34,000 regular-season minutes but Davis would have had to have played if the permission was granted for his teammate.
Davis also wouldn’t have been allowed to sit out the matchup against the Knicks as it was broadcasted on national television.
Chris Paul, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan and Mike Conley all also qualify for this exemption.
However, their younger counterparts must be played or risk their teams facing massive fines.
The league will have the ability to penalize teams that violate the policy by fining them $100,000 for the first infraction and $250,000 for the second. Each successive violation will increase by $1 million.
That means in Boston one of either Jaylen Brown or Jayson Tatum must be played, while in Dallas both Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic can’t be rested at the same time.
Other teams boast more star players with Golden State and Minnesota tallying the most with four.
Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins, Paul, Draymond Green, and Curry all make the cut, while Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, Conley, and Rudy Gobert are on the list for the Timberwolves.
The Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers all have three with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Durant, Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine all qualifying as ‘stars.’
However, other teams only have one player who falls into the category, such as LaMelo Ball in Charlotte, Ben Simmons for the Nets, Nikola Jokic in Denver and Zion Williamson for the Pelicans.
These franchises can juggle their rosters much easier with just the sole star as under the new rules they can still rest the maximum of one player.
Teams will be able to make other requests to have players miss games that include personal reasons, player’s prior injury history and end-of-season flexibility.
Interestingly, despite the hype around the No. 1 2023 Draft pick, Victor Wembanyama is not a star – not yet anyway.
Despite his star appeal, as he is a rookie, the Frenchman cannot fall into the star player category as he has not yet made an All-Star or All-NBA team. If he is named in the All-Star Game team in February, he would then be listed as a star player and he and the San Antonio Spurs would then have to comply with the new resting policy.
Despite his existing star appeal, Victor Wembanyama doesn’t qualify as he is a rookie
The move comes with increased player participation a top priority for NBA commissioner Adam Silver as the league negotiates a new media rights deal with the current one ending in 2025.
‘It’s a shared view by everyone in the league, it’s not just coming from the league office,’ Silver said.
‘I think whether it’s our teams, our players association, individual players, I think there’s an acknowledgement across the league that we need to return to that principle that this is an 82-game league. … I think there’s a statement of principle that if you’re a healthy player in this league, the expectation is that you’re going to play.’
He added: ‘What we’ve tried to do as the league office is work through all the different issues recognizing the genuine concern from the fans and of course the media that’s paying for the opportunity to broadcast those games.’
