NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is still not a fan of star players sitting out games, especially with the playoffs. During a Wednesday press conference, Silver said he and the league plan to look into “a trend of star players not participating in a full complement of games.”
Silver brought up this issue when asked about the Ben Simmons and the 76ers’ ongoing arbitration. He said he would instead focus on the trend above of various star players missing big chunks of games.
“I’m not standing here saying I have a great solution,” Silver said via ESPN. “Part of the issue is injuries. One of the things we have focused on at the league office and we’re spending—we had begun to spend a lot of time on pre-pandemic—are there things we can do in terms of sharing information, resources around the league to improve best practices, rehabilitation?”
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Silver also mentions that the play-in tournament is here to stay. Silver noted that the play in tournaments was also meant for players to want to have more incentive not to miss many games throughout the season.
“The other way we can get at it, in terms of player participation, is creating other incentives,” Silver said. “The Play-In Tournament, I thought, was a beginning of creating renewed incentives for teams to remain competitive and be fighting for playoff position. It may be through in-season tournaments and changes in format where we can get at it.”
While the NBA has seen its share of stars miss significant time this season, Silver and the league may need to look at better ways to limit back-to-back games and space out long road trips for teams.