By Jordan Long
The NBA has a problem. Teams are resting star players during back-to-back games. This is unfair to fans who purchased tickets to see players like LeBron James or Steph Curry. According to sbnation.com NBA, Commissioner Adam Silver said, “I’m sympathetic to fans who turn out — whether they buy tickets to games or watching games on television and don’t see their favorite player on the floor. I think that’s a core responsibility of the team and I think it’s a very slippery slope for the league office to start getting in the business of telling a coach or team what minutes a player should play.” How can we fix this issue?
The NBA plays 82 games and teams play many back-to-backs throughout the course of the year. Reducing the schedule is not an option because of television revenue. The NBA has a $2.66 billion dollar contract with ESPN and TNT to show primetime games. This is a lot of money the NBA would miss out on if they were to decrease the number of games.
The NBA can’t force teams to dress star players. Teams decide not make these athletes appear in games so they can rest for the next game to cut down on the risk of injury.
The NBA solution to this issue is easy, play fewer back-to-back games. The average NBA team plays 16 games back-to-back or 20% of the season. That is far too many games. The NBA needs to figure out how to cut that number down to 10 back-to-back games, mostly playing every other night. Fans would have a better chance of seeing star players and teams may not need to rest star athletes as often.
What is the solution for the NBA to not have star players rest during back-to-back games?
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