This past weekend we had another primetime NBA matchup being televised and we were treated to watching the Cleveland Cavaliers rest their big three. The Los Angeles Clippers were hosting the Cavs on Saturday when news didn't break until late that LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love would be resting. Some players are complaining about the schedule of the NBA and how the league needs to do a better job of scheduling these televised matchups, but I wholeheartedly disagree.
I think the entire idea of healthy players resting is ruining the NBA brand. You have fans that plan to see their favorite player as soon as the schedule is released. It's a slap in the face to the fans that spend their hard earned money to watch these athletes play. The league is as soft as its ever been and players are resting more and more. I just can't grasp the concept of this to save my life. It's not just the playoff bound teams resting their players by the way. The Brooklyn Nets have the worst record in the NBA and they've rested Brook Lopez on a few occasions. Why is the best player on the worst team in the league resting? That doesn't send a good message to the youth watching and aspiring play professional basketball.
It makes absolutely no sense to me. If you're going to rest players I say do it for home games. For example, the Clippers and Cavs only play each other twice each season because they're in two different conferences. Consider the families that have spent their hard earned money to come see LeBron play, but that money is gone to waste because of "rest." The NBA needs to start fining or suspending these teams and players for these type of actions. In my eyes no healthy player deserves to take a night off.
Players use to take pride in playing all 82 games during the regular season. Let's just look at the MVP race we have going on now. I know there are plenty of folks trying to say LeBron is being overlooked with what Westbrook and Harden have been doing. I believe he doesn't deserve to be in the conversation this year because he's missing games due to rest. Then people try to use the logic that when he sits the Cavs usually lose, which should boost his MVP consideration because it shows how valuable he is to his team. Meanwhile, Harden and Westbrook haven't missed one game this season due any sort of rest. These are the only two that need to be discussed when it comes to MVP race this year.
As a fan of the game it's frustrating watching the direction the NBA is heading in. I'm hoping sometime in the near future Adam Silver will address this situation. It's sad that fans have to second guess buying tickets to see their favorite player because of the "rest" factor. The fans of the NBA deserve better by these coaches and players.
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