Outside of the MVP debate — which rages on after Russell Westbrook’s historic triple-double on Wednesday — the biggest controversy in the NBA this season has been about players resting and whether it’s bad for the league.
Plenty have weighed in on the debate. LeBron James has questioned why it only seems to matter when he does it, and said there’s not really anything the NBA can do to stop it. Jeff Van Gundy got really mad on a broadcast about it, and Charles Barkley got predictably upset about the issue as well. Adam Silver even went as far to send a memo to the league’s Board of Governors about the spreading epidemic of players getting much needed rest.
Kevin Durant joined the growing list of those to speak out about the issue in an interview with ESPN’s Chris Haynes, and Durant pointed out the double-standard that the debate around the issue has revealed.
“The truth about it is, it’s only for a couple of players in the league,” Durant said. “They don’t care if the 13th man on the bench rest. It’s only for like LeBron [James], Steph [Curry], [James] Harden, Russell [Westbrook]. It’s only for like five players. So you want a rule just for those five players?”
Later, Durant pointed out that it’s not an issue when teams at the bottom of the rankings sit veteran players in order to improve their draft stock — specifically pointing out that the Suns have put Tyson Chandler on the shelf.
“It’s hard for you to just craft a rule out for the top players,” he said. “I’ve seen guys that’s not even in the playoffs resting, sitting out for the rest of the season. And it’s nothing against those guys. I’m not trying to bash them or anything. Tyson Chandler is out. They got him sitting out for the rest of the year. I’m sure he wants to play, but they’re not saying anything about Tyson Chandler, so it’s hard for me to really talk about this. It’s not a league-wide rule. It’s not a league-wide concern. It’s only a concern for the top players.”
Durant’s point is similar to that of LeBron, just on a slightly larger scale and also does a better job pointing out what he sees as hypocrisy when it comes to what is considered a problem and what is considered part of the business of basketball. The obvious difference is that there aren’t many fans that are buying tickets just to see Tyson Chandler, while that isn’t the case for LeBron and Steph and the others.
Durant understands that issue, and doesn’t really have a good solution for it other than hoping people can understand that players are human and need the breaks both mentally and physically.
“Players, if anything, need a mental break sometimes. And sorry, they’re human,” Durant told ESPN. “They go through so much every single day. There are so many obligations off the court that you don’t know about … family. … It might not be a physical break, it might just be a reset mentally, and I get that.
“And I also get if I was a fan and could afford to get tickets, and I’m circling LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook on my calendar, I would want to see them play live. I would be disappointed as well. I see it from the fans’ perspective and the players’ perspective. I’m caught right in the middle.”
Durant seems cognizant of the issues that come into play for fans that buy tickets to specific games to see stars, but he thinks that rest at times is crucial to players being at their best both physically and mentally. The rest debate will rage on through this offseason as the NBA looks for a fix.
As Durant’s coach Steve Kerr noted recently, the rest issue will likely be helped out by the schedule being stretched out next year by moving the start of the season back a week to 10 days to help cut down on back-to-backs. That might not be enough for Silver and the NBA’s owners who see this issue as having the potential to spook fans from paying high prices for marquee games out of fear that the stars may rest. Whatever they do, they’ll need to be sure a rest rule is inclusive for all teams and players or risk angering their premier stars.
