I mean, this isn’t really going to turn into an issue, is it?
NEW YORK (AP) — Players resting at the end of the regular season will be discussed among NBA executives, though commissioner David Stern doesn’t see anything coming of it.
With a healthy LeBron James set to miss his fourth straight game Wednesday night, Stern said he is putting the matter on the agenda for the board of governors meetings Thursday and Friday in New York.
“We’re troubled by it, because it would be our preference that healthy players play,” the commissioner said during his annual pre-playoffs conference call.
“But sometimes players play at different levels of being nicked or bruised and we never wanted to get into the business of sending out truckloads of doctors analyzing whether a player was actually nicked or bruised, and we understand the issue.”
Trying to stop tanking is one thing, but you really can’t stop healthy players from sitting out meaningless games if they’re resting up for the playoffs. It’s not like this is football – in which case I still say it’s fine to rest healthy players in meaningless games. These guys play 82 games. If you’re a season ticket holder and Wade isn’t playing, be happy that you can watch him at full strength in the playoffs. If you’re a fan who has tickets for the last few games of the season, your business is nominal and nobody cares about you. Either way, I think what Stern said was commissioner-speak for “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding.”
