The Spurs and Sixers will square off in Philadelphia on Wednesday night in what would usually be considered a very interesting midseason matchup. The Spurs are among the West’s top teams, while the Sixers are an up-and-coming squad in the East with some talented young stars.
However, Wednesday night’s matchup will not exactly pique the interest of the casual fan (or the non-Sixers/Spurs affiliated NBA diehard) because most everyone of note will be on the bench for San Antonio. The Spurs announced earlier in the afternoon that pretty much everyone notable player their roster would be sitting out, either with injury or as part of “return from injury management,” which is the most Spurs term ever.
Rudy Gay (right heel bursitis), Manu Ginobili (rest), Danny Green (tightness, left groin), Kawhi Leonard (return from injury management) and Tony Parker (return from injury management) are all out for tonight’s Spurs-76ers game. pic.twitter.com/maWmwHYH1g
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 3, 2018
Considering the NBA’s new rest rules call for teams to be fined for resting otherwise healthy players on national TV games or on road games (of which the latter is the case here), the Spurs are certainly pushing the boundaries here. That’s not to say it’s unwise to sit Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker, or Manu Ginobili, but citing rest and injury management will ask a question of the NBA and see whether they’ll do anything about it.
Teams around the league, namely the Warriors, have turned to listing minor injuries regularly on the injury report to justify resting players, but the Spurs are introducing a wholly new term to the mix here. It’s a completely valid reason to want to give someone rest, but combining those players resting with everyone else to see five of the Spurs’ top players out is a bit staggering.
