Ever since he has took over for David Stern, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has worked hard to be on the forefront of change for the better of the league. Some of the recent issues that have arisen is the act of tanking, as well as teams resting healthy players during the regular season.
Some teams have actively tried to be worse as their best chance of landing a star player is through the draft. Likewise, many teams with championship hopes will rest their star players during the regular season in order to ensure they’re healthy once the playoffs come.
While both strategies do make sense, they affect the competitive balance that the NBA is trying to uphold. The possibility of reform has already been rumored and now the changes have been officially recommended by the competition committee according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
“The NBA competition committee has recommended the league proposals on draft lottery reform and guidelines for the resting of players to the board of governors for final approval, league sources told ESPN.”
Many of the changes being proposed have already been out in the public such as changing the odds of teams landing the top pick. Something else in the proposal is that Commissioner Silver would have full power to fine teams for resting players:
“In the proposed resting legislation, Silver will have the discretionary ability to fine teams for resting players in several instances, including sitting multiple players outside of unusual circumstances in a single game, and healthy players in nationally televised ESPN, ABC and TNT games, league sources said.”
Silver holding full discretionary ability to fine teams could be dangerous as it gives him a lot of power. However, Silver has been excellent in not overstepping his boundaries as Commissioner so far.
The Board of Governors will vote on these changes on September 28 and needs a two-thirds majority to pass. If it does these changes will go into effect for the 2019 NBA Draft, giving all teams ample time to prepare for everything.
