For the past several years the NBA has been trying to tackle issues related to load management. The long ongoing trend of star players missing games continuously has been subject to wide criticism. Now it seems some new policy changes are on the way to confront this issue.
Bobby Marks reported on the new rule that is being considered for implementation in the league. It will switch up things massively and put pressure on the players to show up more in the matchups instead of resting out and skipping work.
LeBron, Curry, Durant, and elite NBA players were granted special exceptions for workload
The new Player Participation Policy or the PPP will be replacing the PRP (Player Resting Policy) rules that were implemented in the 2017-18 season of the league. The PPA will come into effect starting from the 2023-24 season which will affect star players in a team. The definition of a star player as per the NBA is a player who has been on an All-NBA team or All-Star in any of the previous three seasons.
However, star players like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant seem to have a workaround for themselves in this rule. The new rules have an exception that states a player can miss a back-to-back game on pre-approved written permission. This will apply to players who are 35 years old on the opening night of the season and have a career workload of 34,000 regular season minutes or 1,000 regular season and playoff games combined.
If the team feels like their star player is unable to participate in the upcoming match, they will have to provide the NBA with written information at least one week prior the matchup explaining the reason for the player missing out.
LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Chris Paul along with some veteran star players like Kevin Durant will make these criteria by the beginning of the new season which will give them rest time if they want. There are many new changes expected to be implemented with the most important being the rule which disallows resting two-star players together.
NBA considers the rule against resting two stars together
The expected changes that PPP will bring will see more participation from star players in nationally televised games. The rule states that at least one-star player should be playing in the game that is being nationally televised or if it’s an in-season tournament game.
The rule also restricts the team from resting two-star players at once. For example- if the Warriors host the Celtics in a game on Wednesday and Stephen Curry and Chris Paul both play in that game, the next fixture will allow one of the stars to rest. This means that in the next game, only Steph or CP3 can sit out while the other has to make a mandatory appearance.
It remains to be seen how the NBPA will react if the changes are implemented. Many questions are coming up related to injuries and how those will be considered in the rule. The PPP is expected to achieve greater player participation in the 82-game regular season and also minimize star player absences from these games.
What do you think of these expected rule changes? How do you think the NBPA will react? We are eager to know your thoughts, so drop down in the comments and share your take.
