NBA's New Player Resting Policy for 2020-2021 Season

In 2012, the National Basketball Association (NBA) imposed a 250,000 Dollar-fine on the San Antonio Spurs for resting their best players who weren't reported to be dealing with injuries, on a nationally-televised game against then defending champions Miami Heat. For Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich, that decision was "pretty logical".

Load management. 

In the NBA, that's the term they used when a team decides to rest a star player on certain games. On one side, it's a good move because it will allow star players to stay fresh for the playoffs. On the other side, it doesn't allow chemistry amongst players to grow especially when star players rest more often. That was the case for the Los Angeles Clippers who despite having Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in their lineup, couldn't even reach the Western Conference Finals.

For the 2020-2021 regular season, the league is implementing a new player resting policy. It states that teams are prohibited to rest healthy players for any high-profile, nationally-televised games. In the same new policy, players whom teams decide to rest should be visible to the fans. 

In case a team violates this policy, that team will be fined at least 100,000 Dollars.

This would mean that the Los Angeles Clippers can't do what they did last season. The same thing with the defending champions, the Los Angeles Lakers. And other big market teams who will play the most number of nationally-televised games. 

However, the shortest offseason in league's history could make teams more than willing to pay the fines if that's what will ensure that their stars will be fresher by the time the postseason comes around in May 2021. 

Photo is from SB Nation