NBA Approves Stricter Rules in an Effort to Curb Load Management Among Star Players

Emil T. Lippe/AP

The NBA Board of Governors on Wednesday approved a new set of rules to further prevent star players from taking excessive rest days.

According to the new rules, teams must manage their rosters to “ensure that no more than one star player is unavailable for the same game.” Teams are of course exempt from these guidelines if the stars are injured. Additionally, teams must make sure their stars are available for nationally televised games as well as the new in-season tournament that will debut this upcoming season.

Healthy players who are simply resting must also be “present and visible” to fans at games.

The league defines a star player as someone who was named an all-star or made an All-NBA team in any of the last three seasons.

There are also several exceptions the league detailed that would allow stars to rest when a team has back-to-back games. If a player was 35 years old, for example, teams may send written requests to the NBA to get a pre-approved “back-to-back allowance.” Players with more than 34,000 regular season minutes played or 1,000 games played will also qualify. All-star veterans like LeBron James fall within this criteria.

These new rules come months after the league put forth another measure to ensure its stars play as much as possible. Beginning this season, players will need to play at least 65 games to be considered for major accolades like MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and All-NBA recognition. The latter is especially significant because when a player is named on an All-NBA team, they often become eligible for a “supermax” contract as opposed to a standard max contract. Not making any of the three All-NBA could cost a player seeking an extension tens of millions of dollars.