James Harden, Jimmy Butler, Devin Booker or even Donovan Mitchell and Khris Middleton. These are not the players who exceeded 40 points in the first week of competition, but some of the first stars who have already missed matches, due to injury or rest. We could almost have added Joel Embiid to this list.
However, we know that the league has implemented a policy to prevent franchises from leaving stars in the fridge during matches televised on the national network. Faced with this, the teams have already started to adapt. The proof with the pivot of the Sixers. A few hours before the match against the Blazers, the 2023 MVP was indeed “uncertain”…
“There is no history of injury. Simply, we played last night, with the trip, etc….”explained Nick Nurse for The Athletic. Finally, he played and was even very good with 35 points and 15 rebounds. Did the new rule imposed by the league, which is already monitoring James Harden and the Sixers, weigh in the decision? “A little, I think, yes”concedes the coach.
Philadelphia changes its mind, Miami makes a call
We can deduce that, last season, Joel Embiid would undoubtedly have missed this meeting against Portland. From the first days of the season, the new league policy already has an influence.
Another example: the Miami Herald announces that the Heat contacted the NBA before the game against Minnesota on Saturday night, in order to verify whether or not not playing Jimmy Butler would be a violation of the new rule. As the 2023 finalist had played against Knicks the day before, in a match on the national network, and he has a history of knee injury, the Miami franchise was able to blow him without risk.
Injury management is one of the exemptions listed by the league to rest stars. This is why Milwaukee spares Khris Middleton, who had surgery this summer. The latter did not play against Atlanta on Saturday night.
“Recovery from injury, like its management, is a real reason,” explains Rick Carlisle, Pacers coach and president of the coaches union. “It’s concrete. If a player is in the recovery phase and the doctors say that back-to-back is not a good idea, at least for a while, then that is a doctor’s opinion. »
To play or to blow, you have to choose
That’s why the Cavaliers had no problem not playing three stars against the Pacers. Jarrett Allen is injured in the ankle and has not yet worn his jersey this season when Darius Garland only played against Brooklyn in the first game. Finally, Donovan Mitchell, after scoring 43 points against the Thunder the day before, missed the game against Indiana.
For what ? “He had cramps in the last quarter against Oklahoma City. We don’t want to play with that.”, replies JB Bickerstaff. But if the guard returns against New York on Tuesday evening, in a match scheduled on TNT, our colleagues from The Athletic specify that the NBA could wonder if his absence against the Pacers was not an excuse, a diplomatic injury, for the blow.
Therefore, it is not so easy to find the balance. As a reminder, penalties for an unexcused absence start at $100,000 for the first offense. To then rise to 250,000 during the second. The third is even heavier at 1.25 million dollars. But how much is the health of an All-Star? This will be the equation that will have to be solved for the franchises.
“I will always say it like this: I like our guys to play, to play as much as possible, but injuries happen and I will never sacrifice their safety to put a player on the floor for 82 games,” announced the Cavaliers coach when doing without his three stars against Indiana. “It’s important that the players are on the pitch, but we will always protect them. Injuries happen when we get to that point where we feel like something is going to happen and it could turn into something worse. »
