NBA to review Nets' sitting starters, rotation players in loss to Bucks
Nets center Nic Claxton celebrates a teammate's three-pointer against the Bucks during the second half of an NBA game Wednesday at Barclay Center. Credit: AP/Peter K. Afriyie
OKLAHOMA CITY — The NBA is reviewing the Nets’ decision to sit three starters and pull additional starters and rotation players after one quarter in Wednesday’s loss to the Bucks. The league confirmed the review to Newsday on Sunday.
The Nets could be subject to fines if the league deems the action to be inappropriate.
The Nets faced Milwaukee at Barclays Center on the second night of a back-to-back after flying from Detroit. Cam Johnson and Nic Claxton were ruled out for injury maintenance and Spencer Dinwiddie was listed as out for the purpose of resting him.
Dorian Finney-Smith was ruled out before the game because of left knee soreness. Mikal Bridges and Cam Thomas started the game but were pulled after playing most of the first quarter. Royce O’Neale, who joined the starting lineup, played 10 minutes.
As a result, the Nets went with a mostly bench lineup featuring their three players on two-way contracts: rookie Jalen Wilson and first-round picks Noah Clowney and Dariq Whitehead. Dennis Smith was the only member of the Nets’ usual nine-man rotation who played more than 17 minutes in the Nets’ 144-122 loss.
The decision was soundly criticized by Bridges, Nets fans and NBA pundits. The Nets also had one of their bigger crowds of the season with an announced attendance of 18,199.
Bridges, who has never missed a game in his career, owns the NBA’s longest current streak of consecutive games played with 424 entering Sunday night against the Thunder.
“The streak is, I guess, for everyone else to talk about,” Bridges told reporters. “But I don’t just get in there for the streak. I get in there to play the game and because I want to go out there and win.”
Bridges played only four seconds in last season’s regular-season finale as the Nets and 76ers rested most of their regular players. He and Finney-Smith were among three players pulled after playing the first quarter in last season’s 118-113 loss to the Bucks in Milwaukee, a game with several Nets starters out because of injuries.
Some Nets players, including Smith and Dinwiddie, understand why the team did it even if it went against the players’ desire to play. But it also revived the debate about load management and resting healthy players.
The NBA tried to handle this before the season by updating its protocols. Now only one star player is permitted to rest for a game.
Also mentioned was that teams must have a balance between the number of one-game absences for star players in home and road games, and that the league would prefer those absences be at home.
Teams are fined $100,000 for a first violation. However, the Nets have only one player — Ben Simmons — who fits the league’s definition of a star, which is someone who made the All-Star or All-NBA team in the past three seasons.
Simmons has been out since Nov. 6 because of a nerve impingement in his lower back.
On Friday, coach Jacque Vaughn defended the decision, saying that several players had logged heavy minutes recently. The decision was made organizationally, but Vaughn said he wanted to protect his players’ health and have them fresh to compete in the hard-playing style he wants.
“It’s my job to make those decisions, and I’m fine making those,” Vaughn said. “I’ll communicate it with you. I’ll try to get you to understand, I’ll keep chipping away at it. But you don’t have to agree with it.”
Evan Barnes covers the Nets for Newsday. He previously covered Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
