Cleveland Cavaliers fined $250,000 by NBA for second infraction this season

The Cleveland Cavaliers made one of their star players unavailable for the wrong game and paid a price for it.

Dec 3, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) looks to shoot between Portland Trail Blazers forward Toumani Camara (33) and guard Sidy Cissoko (91) in the fourth quarter at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images

The NBA has been cracking down on player availability for the past few seasons.

As a perception among casual sports fans centering around NBA players being soft and always trying miss action if they can, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has made efforts to keep their best players on the court. The league's new Player Participation Policy was implemented before the start of the 2023-2024 regular season.

This means the NBA has implemented protocol and consequences for how to handle teams who withhold their players from playing in games they're physically healthy and able to play in.

Teams can't rest a player at any point during the season for any reason they feel like reporting. There's a structures and guidelines set in place now to keep the best players on the floor for as often as possible.

The Cavaliers are the latest team to suffer the consequences of not abiding by the recent guidelines.

Nov 21, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson calls for a replay review to referee Sean Corbin (33) during the second half against the Indiana Pacers at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Cavaliers fined for second time this season

The Cavaliers were fined $100,000 by the NBA November 18 for violating the league's Player Participation Policy. The team held out Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley out of a game against the Miami Heat November 12 due to rest. Mitchell and Mobley are both defined under the policy as "star" players.

"The Player Participation Policy primarily will focus on star players. A star player for purposes of the policy is any player who, in any of the prior three seasons, was selected to an All-NBA Team or an NBA All-Star team."

NBA.com

The policy states that teams have to make sure only one star player rests a game at a time. Two star players cannot be unavailable for no reason at the same time. Mitchell and Mobley have both made the all-star game or an all-NBA team within the past three seasons.

Darius Garland kept out of nationally televised game

Since this is the second violation of the policy for the Cavaliers this season, the fine increases to a hefty $250,000. The reason Cleveland was fined this time was because of the team holding out Garland for a nationally televised game instead of a non-nationally televised game.

The NBA implemented this Player Participation Policy to focus on star players' availability throughout the regular season. The NBA also has evidence that the policy has worked. The Board of Governors news conference in 2024 saw Adam Silver articulate how "stars" missed 15% fewer regular season games since the implementation of the policy. The policy also requires players to play 65 regular season games in order to be eligible for end-of-season awards.