Adam Silver has been adamant about his desire to change the NBA's rest culture.
The commissioner has made efforts to change the schedule, eliminate back-to-backs, and add breaks in the season whenever possible. Yet, he still had teams like the Spurs, Cavaliers and Warriors all rest their star players during national TV games last season.
Silver has grown frustrated not at the rest itself but the timing of when teams choose to sit out their top stars. Silver has now begun to take steps to combat it. According to ESPN, Silver and the NBA competition committee have laid out guidelines when it comes to resting. Their main focus appears to be with star players and home games.
"Where we're heading is the adoption of guidelines that will be in place for next season which will strongly recommend that the extent they rest, they rest at home, and teams also not rest multiple starters on the same night," Silver said. "Let's see how that plays out."
This is clearly meant to combat two issues: Teams resting players on the road (when it might be a fan's only chance to see that team) and sitting out entire units of star players during nationally televised games. LeBron James can rest one night, but the Cavaliers won't be able to rest Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love as well.
These are good decisions from Silver. He's not restricting teams from keeping their players fresh and healthy for the entire 82-game marathon, plus the playoffs, but he's trying to avoid harming his product. Rest is good for teams, but the NBA is entertainment and they can't have their stars missing national TV games or road trips when it's the one time all season they'll be in town. This is a fair compromise on the part of Silver as the NBA works to find a good middle ground.
