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The NBA Board of Governors approved a new \u201cPlayer Participation Policy\u201d (PPP) on Wednesday in order to combat the rise of \u2018load management\u2019 and ensure that basketball\u2019s biggest names are on the court throughout the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is load management in NBA terms?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Load management is when a healthy player is held out of playing in a game for rest or precautionary reasons. This is done for the purpose of avoiding long-term fatigue and injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new rules, which have replaced the Player Resting Policy (PRP) introduced in 2017, are \u201cintended to promote player participation in the NBA\u2019s full 82-game regular season\u201d and prevent teams from resting more than one \u201cstar\u201d player on any given night, often referred to as load management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The PPP defines a star player as any individual who has been named to the All-NBA or All-Star teams in any of the previous three seasons. This means that the Boston Celtics, for example, are required to make at least one of their elite duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown available for every game across the regular season, providing neither are injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forty-nine players are defined as stars by these new provisions across 26 different teams. However, only the 15 teams with multiple star players will be affected by this rule in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the new regulations at a press conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is ultimately about the fans, and that we\u2019ve taken this too far,\u201d Silver said. \u201cThis is an acknowledgment that it has gotten away from us a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re turning the clock back, that players are expected to play through injuries or that players never need rest. But there\u2019s a statement of a principle in this league that, if you\u2019re a healthy player, you\u2019re going to play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The NBA also put into its new collective bargaining agreement a clause that requires players to play at least 65 games to qualify for MVP and All-NBA honors. This is to incentivize players who can trigger escalators in contracts by winning those awards to appear in as many games as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This might sound good for the fans who pays a ticket, or for humongous TV Corporation like ESPN, a company that currently has a $24 billion deal with the NBA to broadcast the games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, what about the players? They are the main actors, 82 games, just in the regular season is exhausting for the players. The teams pay the salaries of these starts, they are doing everything they can to protect their players from injuries so they can be healthy toward playoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Load Management is implemented to give the players the rest they need, and save the players so that they are physically better for the important moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n