NBA to vote on issuing team fines under new All-Star load management rules
The NBA is cracking down on load management of teams' best players for the upcoming season.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Monday that the league's Competition Committee has recommended stricter guidelines on resting top players for nationally televised games and multiple stars together in the same games.
Teams that violate the new rules would be fined $100K for a first offense. Then they'd be hit for $250,000 for a second infraction, and $1 million more than the previous penalty for doing it a third time or more.
The league's Board of Governors is expected to vote on the new policy on Wednesday.
Criteria for a star player in this load management scope is one who's earned All-Star or All-NBA status within the previous three years.
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For several years, the NBA has been mulling how to curb teams' load management usage of star players, causing disappointment from fans not seeing them play. Teams generally do that for injury precautions based on medical staff recommendations, have them sit out of games in the soft parts of the team's game schedules, or save them for the postseason.
The Phoenix Suns have three All-Stars and All-NBA selections within the past three years: Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal. Considering the 2020-21's truncated 72-game following the pandemic, and the following two seasons' regular 82-game schedule, said players have averaged 62, 45, and 50 game appearances through the past three seasons. They've missed time from injuries and load management as well.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: NBA to vote on issuing fines under new load management rules
