The NBA’s BOG yesterday voted to “approve the new player participation policy,” which will see teams "receiving hefty fines if they sit a star player in a nationally televised game or an in-season tournament game, sit multiple stars in the same game or shut down a star player for a long stretch of the season,” according to Jasmyn Wimbish of CBSSPORTS.com. The policy "will go into effect at the beginning of the 2023-24 season.” The fines for each violation include: $100,000 for first violation, $250,000 for a second violation and $1M "more than the previous fine for any additional violation.” The NBA can "investigate a player's availability." There are “exceptions to the rules.” If a team “contacts the NBA at least a week before a back-to-back," it can "seek approval to sit a star who is 35 or older on opening night or has played either 34,000 regular-season minutes or a combined 1,000 regular-season and playoff games, or seek approval to sit a star because of a prior injury.” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said, "If you're a healthy player in this league the expectation is that you're going to play. This is an acknowledgment that it has gotten too far a bit” (CBSSPORTS.com, 9/13).
The new policy prompted a number of reactions across social media:
