Why is there so much outrage about NBA teams resting their stars?
Big Wos from ESPN’s TrueHoop podcast joins the show to tackle the hot-button issue of teams resting their players.
DNP-Rest has become a big talking point after the Warriors and Cavaliers sat their superstars on consecutive ABC Saturday showcases. The NBA is growing more annoyed that these decisions are ruining their marquee regular-season matchups. In a memo sent to owners, NBA commissioner Adam Silver threatened “significant penalties” for teams that don’t give advance notice that they plan to sit healthy stars.
On the one hand, this is a tricky issue to solve. The league wants to play 82 games, but it’s simply not healthy for today’s players to grind through all of them if they want to avoid injuries and have anything left for the postseason. At the same time, the league has always marketed its stars, so what happens when the stars aren’t made available?
But maybe the fixes are easier than we think. Maybe fans collectively need more empathy for teams needing to keep their players upright. Maybe it’s time to do away with the 82-game schedule.
Big Wos, one of the personalities behind the popular ESPN TrueHoop podcast, joined the show to discuss these topics and more. We also chatted about:
- Why do people get outraged every time an NBA star rests when fewer people care if a soccer or baseball team rests one of its players?
- What can the NBA realistically do to limit the back-to-backs and dense parts of the schedule that necessitate resting superstars? Should we extend the season into July? Why does the NBA backload the key matchups anyway?
- Why there needs to be more appreciation for teams that reach pretty good status, even if they can never compete for a championship. (Also: why Wos hates The Process).
- We end the show by discussing the Warriors. They’re winning now, but we all think they’re vulnerable in the playoffs. We explain why and ponder whether Draymond Green’s abrasive personality has finally worn on the team.
