The NBA is implementing a new resting policy for the 2020-2021 season that plans to prevent teams from resting healthy players, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Teams will be prohibited from resting healthy players for any high-profile, nationally-televised game and a violation could result in a fine of at least $100,000.
On a new player resting policy, absent, unusual circumstances, a team should not rest multiple healthy players for the same game and teams should not rest healthy players on the road.
In situations when teams decide to rest a healthy player, that player should be visible to the fans, Haynes notes.
These are updated protocols to the player resting policy established in 2017.
It’s somewhat surprising that the league would focus more on this issue for the 2020-2021 season, as teams will be playing a compressed 72-game schedule and most arenas won’t have fans due to COVID-19 restrictions.
However, with fewer fans attending games and more games being watched virtually and on TV, those nationally-televised games become more important for the NBA, as they don’t want to see their star players sitting out notable games.
