The NBA recently made a rule change that could have a significant impact on the league, as it seems to be addressing the load management situation, which teams and players have been using over the last few years.
Along with recently agreeing to a minimum of 65 games played during the regular season in order for players to be eligible to win regular-season awards, which is another way to incentivize players to play when physically able, this new rule will prevent teams from sitting two star players in a game.
The league defines “star” players as being players that have made an All-Star team or been named to an All-NBA squad in the previous three seasons, which apparently comes down to only 49 players, according to NBACentral.
The 49 star players who are subject to new player participation policy:
Ben Simmons
Rudy Gobert
Dejounte Murray
Trae Young
Jaylen Brown
Jayson Tatum
LaMelo Ball
DeMar DeRozan
Zach LaVine
Nikola Vucevic
Jarrett Allen
Darius Garland
Donovan Mitchell
Luka Doncic
Kyrie Irving…— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 13, 2023
It will be interesting to see how this new rule impacts things in the NBA moving forward, as it could severely impact a team’s ability to rest their best players but might also get the league back to the way it was before load management became a thing and was used regularly by teams.
So far, there hasn’t been a lot of backlash for the league’s decision to head in this direction, but that could quickly change if teams find it challenging to adhere to the new rule and speak out against it.
The teams it may impact more than any are the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers, with their superstars, who are on the list above, struggling to stay healthy and who seem to watch from the sideline more than be in uniform on the floor.
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