NBA introduces player participation policy, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton impacted
The NBA, in an attempt to get its star players on the court more often, recently introduced a player participation policy. The Indiana Pacers are impacted.
The policy takes effect at the start of the upcoming regular season. It focuses on star players, which the NBA defines as "any player who, in any of the prior three seasons, was selected to an All-NBA Team or an NBA All-Star team. This definition also applies, following a given season's All-Star Game, to any player who is named an All-Star during that season."
This means Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton is considered a star by the NBA. Additionally, any other players on the blue and gold who make the 2024 All-Star game will be impacted by the new policy.
The new rules attempt to govern player availability. Per the NBA, unless a player is out for approved reasons (injury, personal reasons, back-to-backs depending on a player's age, and a few more) then their team must follow a few guidelines. They can be found here and are listed below.
A team with a star player must:
- "Manage its roster to ensure that no more than one star player is unavailable for the same game.
- Ensure that star players are available for all national television and NBA In-Season Tournament games.
- Maintain a balance between the number of one-game absences for a star player in home and road games.
- Refrain from any long-term 'shutdowns' in which a star player stops playing games.
- If resting a healthy player, ensure that the player is present at the games and visible to fans."
As it stands right now, the Pacers only have one player who falls in the category of star. They don't have to think about multiple stars being unavailable or rested for the same game.
They do now have to ensure that, if healthy, Haliburton plays in national TV games and In-Season tournament outings. Indiana has no history of resting players for consequential games, so this rule change may not impact their thinking at all.
If the Pacers do decide to rest Haliburton, or any future stars, the league prefers that it happens during home games and road games equally. They are also trying to prevent longer absences due to rest and attempting to keep players in the arena even when they are sitting out. This puts them in front of fans — paying customers — more often.
Since the blue and gold only have one nationally televised game, it is possible that opponents rest players against Indiana more often than other squads. However, the hope from the NBA would be that the home/road rest balance would still allow fans in Indianapolis to see star players. The impact of the new policy can't be known until the season starts, but it will lead to some changes.
Per ESPN, teams will be fined for every violation of the policy. This, combined with the NBA putting a minimum games limit on league award winners, is another step for the league encouraging its teams to avoid resting situations. Some organizations will be impacted more than others, and the Pacers have to think about what this means, if anything, for Haliburton this season.
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