Kick back and relax, Jamal Murray. Go dip your feet in the pool a little while longer, Nikola Jokic. While the NBA community clamors over the league’s new rules designed to regulate exploitation of load management, the one star-studded team spared of the headache for now is, ironically, the team that just won the championship.
That’s because, according to the Player Participation Policy’s arbitrary definition of a star player, the Nuggets have only one.
The PPP, approved by the board of governors Wednesday, is one of the most consequential developments of this offseason. Cornered by the increasing trend of ticket-selling players sitting out marquee regular-season games, the NBA overlooked the real cause of this issue (82 games) and instead imposed new watchdog policies that will increase workload and injury risk before the playoffs for many contenders.