Nets fall foul of NBA player participation policy
The NBA fined the Brooklyn Nets US$100,000 on Thursday, marking the first time a team was sanctioned for violating the league's player participation policy that went into effect this season. The Nets held out four rotation players – starters Spencer Dinwiddie, Nic Claxton and Cam Johnson, along with key reserve Dorian Finney-Smith – in what became a 144-122 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on December 27. Brooklyn asserted that giving players rest on the second night of a back-to-back – at the start of a stretch where the Nets would play six times in nine days – was best for its club.  But the league made clear to teams entering this season that resting multiple players, who are healthy enough to play, at once will no longer be overlooked. “We’ve talked to all 30 teams about, ‘Hey, there is a way to rest your players,’" NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars said.  “What we’ve said is sitting four or five guys at one time is not that way. So, if you want to get your players rest, there are ways to do this. But if you do it in a way where it becomes egregious in terms of sitting four or five guys at a time, that’s just not what we’re about in an 82-game league.” The league's investigation included a review by an independent physician. The NBA said those resting players "could have played under the medical standard in the Player Participation Policy, which was adopted prior to this season. The organisation’s conduct violated the Policy, which is intended to promote player participation in the NBA’s 82-game season.” The league's board of governors approved the new policy – which the NBA says was put together out of “consideration for the interests of fans, integrity of the game, player health, competitive fairness among teams, and transparency” – in September.  Teams can be fined US$100,000 for the first violation, US$250,000 for the second and then an additional US$1 million gets tacked on for all subsequent violations. (AP)