LeBron Suggests Nobody Cared About NBA Stars Resting Until He Started Doing It

The debate about players sitting out games when they’re perfectly healthy has dominated the news cycle this week after a pair of marquee match-ups between NBA heavyweights turned into borderline unwatchable D-League-level scrimmages. On Saturday, the Cleveland Cavaliers decided to sit LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love against the Clippers in what was supposed to be a prime-time showdown on ABC.

In the immediate aftermath, Charles Barkley, Jeff Van Gundy, Doc Rivers, and the rest of the usual suspects all chimed in on the topic with varying degrees of predictability. Regardless of where you stand, most would agree that something needs to change, which is why a number of possible solutions have been floated out there, including making sure nationally-televised games aren’t scheduled when the two teams are playing back-to-backs.

After the skeleton-crew Cavs lost to the Clippers, LeBron himself admitted that the current situation isn’t ideal but seemed resigned to the fact there isn’t much to be done. On Tuesday, however, he took it a step further and suggested that the recent outcry has been primarily targeted at him because of the relentless scrutiny that accompanies every little thing he does.

LeBron James had an interesting take on the NBA’s rest issue (via @clevelanddotcom) pic.twitter.com/a5N1Kw2f3L

— Dime on UPROXX (@DimeUPROXX) March 21, 2017

“I don’t under why it’s become a problem … because I started to sit out a couple of games?” LeBron said. “It is the case. It’s absolutely the case. Come on, man. Listen, Pop’s been doing this for 10 years, 12 years, 15 years, and everybody was like, you know what, that’s the smartest thing Pop has ever done. You know, give his guys a couple of games off, and then they go win five championships. It’s the smartest thing. But some of the coaches in our league don’t have the stature that Pop has, and our coach doesn’t have it, so he gets killed for it.”

LeBron is absolutely correct that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was something of an innovator when it came to the idea of resting players in anticipation of a long playoff run. And though many have come to see the wisdom in that strategy, Popovich hasn’t always enjoyed carte blanche with his personnel decisions. You’ll recall that then-commissioner David Stern fined the Spurs $250,000 in 2012 after he sat Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili against the Big 3 Heat.
Adam Silver hinted on Tuesday that the league could revisit that approach and that there could be significant penalties for teams failing to give adequate notice about when they plan on resting star players. In his statement, Silver also suggested that, while coaches obviously have the best interests of their players in mind, they might fail to grasp the financial fallout of such decisions.

Popovich took exception to that last part, saying in no uncertain terms that he and other NBA coaches are plenty smart enough to grasp the business implications involved, while reminding everyone not to lose sight of the bigger picture.

The elongated schedule for next season should ease some of these tensions as it will eliminate four games in five nights and significantly reduce the number of back-to-backs. But as long as coaches have agency over their roster decisions, the debate will likely rage on.