LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Luka Doncic: The NBA lives primarily from its biggest stars. If these players are not used, it is bad for business – and will therefore become more difficult in the future.
The stars of the NBA can no longer take a break so easily in the coming season. The best basketball league in the world adopted a corresponding regulation.
The NBA wants to ensure that the biggest crowd pullers are active as often as possible and thus make spectators in the halls and TV partners happy.
In this context, the league defines stars as professionals who were elected to the All-Star or one of the All-NBA teams in one of the three previous seasons. For the Boston Celtics, for example, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum should not both be sidelined in the same game as long as both are healthy. According to ESPN, 25 of the 30 NBA clubs and almost eleven percent of all professionals are affected by the new rules. An NBA season has 82 games in the main round, only then do the playoffs begin.
In the past, it has always led to dissatisfaction when coaches have rested their best players in less important games or at the end of the season before the playoffs. However, there are still exceptions to the new rules, including personal reasons or the age of players. It will therefore be easier for superstar LeBron James, who will turn 39 later this season, to get a break than for his teammate Anthony Davis, who is only 30 years old.