NBA commissioner Adam Silver has brought many changes to the league in the past few years. This offseason was not an exception as the commissioner changed a few more things, and one of them is related to the rest issue the league is dealing with. Many NBA fans would criticize players for taking rest during the regular season, which is something that will soon be changed.
Next season, NBA will punish teams which rest their players during nationally televised games. This rule will negatively affect the Cleveland Cavaliers as they rely heavily on resting their players.
LeBron James has been criticized a lot for taking a few games off and the league decided to do something about it. The Cavaliers will have to find another way to preserve their players as the NBA will fine them $100,000 if they break this rule.
Cleveland Cavaliers and rest
The new rule will affect the Cavaliers not only because they have a lot of players who could benefit from the rest, but because they also have many nationally televised games. “There are up to 39 games this season in which the Cavaliers would be prohibited from resting a healthy LeBron James, Dwyane Wade or Kevin Love, according to new rules approved Thursday by the league’s board of governors,” wrote Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.
Basically, almost half of the Cavaliers' games will be on the national television. Cleveland will have to come up with a new strategy to keep their players healthy and ready for the postseason. Because of this, we can expect LeBron James and other stars to spend more time on the bench.
Other players need rest, too
LeBron James is not the only player on the Cavaliers who needs additional rest.
Cleveland brought Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade this summer, two players who have dealt with numerous injuries.
Rose hasn't been a great player since he suffered an ACL injury a few years ago. His knees are in a bad condition and the Cavaliers will have to take a good care of him if they want to have him ready for the playoffs.
Wade has a long history of injuries as well. Last season, he missed 22 games and many believed that his elbow injury would be a season-ending injury. However, the shooting guard returned for the playoffs and helped the Chicago Bulls win a few games. Unfortunately, he has a lot of health issues and if the Cavaliers force him to play every game, it is unlikely he would be ready to give them his maximum when it matters most.
