Lakers News: NBA Owners Officially Approve Harsher Star Rest Policy

Star players will be resting less often

The NBA is cracking down on one of its largest problems and the Lakers will have to make some adjustments during the season. 

On Wednesday the NBA approved fines that would be sent out to teams who let star players take rest days during national TV games, in season tournament games, or if two or more stars sit in the same game. 

The news was first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

NBA Board of Governors has approved new policy that a team is unable to rest two star players in the same game moving forward, multiple sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. A star is defined as someone who has made All-Star or All-NBA team in the past three seasons.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 13, 2023

According to the new rules, a star player is someone that has made an All-Star or All-NBA team in the past three seasons. 

For your Los Angeles Lakers this would include injury-prone stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Both players have been included in at least one All-Star or All-NBA team over the past three years. 

If either players takes a rest day or they rest on the same day, the Lakers could get in a lot of trouble.

For a first offense, the league will fine the team $100,000. After a second offense, the team gets fined $250,000. The third time a team breaks the rules the team is fined $1 million.

Anything after a third offense, the fine will go up $1 million every time. 

The NBA has passed these rules as a way for fans to see their favorite players whenever they attend an NBA game.

Over the past years, teams have been resting stars too often, causing people to complain that they are not seeing their favorite players during the regular season. 

Other rules that have been passed this offseason to combat players resting. The biggest one is forcing players to play in a minimum amount of games in order to be considered for any awards including MVP and rookie of the year. 

Only time will tell whether or not these new rules will make star players play in more games this season. 

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