Clippers star Kawhi Leonard hopes NBA isn’t trying to mock him personally with new resting rule

Now that the summer vacations are finally over and all players have reported back to their team’s training camps this week, they’ve also attended their respective Media Days and talked to the press about certain decisions made by the NBA during the offseason.

One of the most important new policies is how the league has made clear that healthy players should always be on court for the well being of the business. This load management issue has made some players come out and defend themselves, who insist they aren’t interested in sitting.

The only thing athletes want both fans and the NBA to understand, is that at times they have to listen to their bodies and medical staff about dealing with long-term recurrent injuries. Kawhi Leonard was one who felt the need to shake off everyone who has doubted him in the past.

Kawhi pushes back on new resting policy. 🗣️ https://t.co/NnQEhXHjhK pic.twitter.com/eKWDegLdpP

— theScore (@theScore) October 3, 2023

“I was coming from an injury and you have to know the details of the doctor,” the Clippers star said this Monday. “But if the league is seeing or trying to mock what I did with the Raptors, they should stop because I was injured the whole year. But other than that, if I’m able to play, I’ll play basketball. I’ll work out every day in the summertime to play the game, not to sit and watch people play. No league policy is helping me to play more games.”

There’s no doubt that some of Kawhi’s absences in recent years are precisely what the NBA is trying to prevent from happening starting this 2023/24 campaign. Back when he was a Raptors player in 2018/19,  he missed 22 matches to carefully avoid his health issues to increase.

Another player who shared a similar sentiment was guard CJ McCollum, who understands where the league’s decision is coming from.

“I think the league is trying to figure out ways to make our game better, to help grow the game, understanding that fan engagement is important for all of us,” said the New Orleans guard. “As a fan of sports, when you go to a game, you want the stars to play. You’re paying a premium on the ticket … or maybe it’s the cable package or whatever you have, you want to see the best players play.”

The new NBA policy prevents team from resting multiple star players in the same match without approval. The types of athletes who make the list are the ones who’ve been selected an All-NBA or All-Star in the past three seasons.

The NBA has also threatened to investigate some of these cases and punish them with penalties that could potentially surpass $1 million

If a team has three violations from the new load management rule book, the league has threatened to investigate these absences and punish the franchises with penalties of $1 million or more.

“Obviously the NBA is always trying to find a way to get the best players playing. And why? Well, because we want people to tune in to their TVs and watch,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone. “And they’re going to watch when the best players show up every night and play.”

The league has found other more passive ways of preventing this to happen by improving the team’s travels and schedules. However, it is still very uncommon to find players who’ve played all 82 games of the regular season.

“I think the league’s approach in trying to get players to player more, I think that’s great. I’m trying to play as many games as I possibly can,” shared Boston star Jaylen Brown. “It don’t always be the players. I know that’s the narrative, that it’s the players that decide not to play. I won’t go into detail, but that’s not always the case.