ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski says load management rule is due to NBA negotiating new media rights deal

This week, the NBA reached an important decision concerning the use of star athletes during nationally televised games and other issues around load management. The new policy gave strict guidelines involving players who were considered All-Stars or part of the All-NBA team in recent years, as no team can rest two players of this condition during the same televised-match.

There are a total of 49 players in the NBA who are currently falling under this policy, even though many others might be considered ‘stars’ by fans, but don’t necessarily meet with the board’s criteria. A perfect example of this is French sensation Victor Wembanyama, who might take the NBA by storm this upcoming campaign, but can’t be considered a star as he’s still a rookie.

On the other hand, teams like the Dallas Mavericks (with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving) or the Los Angeles Clippers (with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George), will have difficulties dealing with load management, as their star players won’t be able to rest the same contest.

Reporting on the Board of Governors’ passing of the NBA’s new Player Participation Policy with @shaepeppler on @sportscenter pic.twitter.com/IEvBGBnOk7

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 13, 2023

In yesterday’s edition of ESPN’s Sport Center, Adrian Wojnarowski shared his thoughts over which are the main reasons behind this change to the NBA rule book. The reporter explained about the long-term negotiations which are currently going on behind the scenes that are fueling the need to reach these agreements.

“The punishment will be significant for teams – not the individual players – teams. $100,00, $250,00 for the first instances and then a million more each time for successive violations of the resting policy. The league, they’re negotiating a new media rights deal and they want their star players on the court,” he expressed.

The veteran anaylst discussed the latest changes, further explaining how some NBA franchises might have a difficult time adjusting to them.

“The league now is saying, ‘Hey guys, this is an 82-game regular season,’ and some teams point and said, ‘No, we told them it’s a 65-game season when we put that rule in,’ because we’re talking about star players. Teams do manage rest for their players, and they make decisions as a group to sit players for given games.

“But players also make those decisions with their own medical people, and so there are going to be instances where teams are going to get fined through no fault of their own because a player may decide that he’s going to rest a particular game,” Wojnarowski said.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says that they will see how this rule works this season and reconsider making further changes in the future

Besides the facts that franchises will have to follow these new resting policies, other restrictions were also added for those teams and players who hope to conquer the MVP and other awards handed out yearly. For example, to win the Defensive Player of the Year, the candidate will have to play at least 65 regular season matches.

“I think we’ll state this principle, see how teams react and see if more needs to be done,” Adam Silver said this week. “But I think, most importantly, there’s a sense from all the different constituent groups in the league that this is ultimately about the fans and that we’ve taken this too far.”

The NBA Commissioner kept at it, and further explained why these new rules are so important for the league to continue to grow healthily.

“I mean, this is an acknowledgement that it’s gotten away from us a bit, particularly I think when you see young, healthy players who are resting. It becomes maybe even more notion of stature around the league as opposed to absolute needed rest — or it’s just part of being an NBA player that you rest on certain days — and that’s what we’re trying to move away from,” Silver shared.