Wizards Owner Ted Leonsis Responds to Adam Silver's Memo on Resting Star Players

After NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressing the issue of players resting during nationally televised games, Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis discussed the issue Tuesday at the Sports Business Summit.

"If a player is hurt or player is banged up, he should be able to sit out," Leonsis said, per CNBC.com's Jessica Golden. "However, when you sit out three players, arbitrarily in the game of the week, that's probably inappropriate."

Leonsis also told the crowd the NBA could expect the Wizards biggest stars to play when the team is afforded a national audience.

"It's an honor to play on national TV and teams should respect that," he said. "Networks paid a lot of money for the programming and they want to drive ratings. They deserve to have the best product and best players out there."

ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne first reported on the league memo in which Silver called resting star players "an extremely significant issue for our league." Silver wrote to league owners that he will address the issue at the NBA's board of governors meeting April 6.

On one hand, it's easy to see why the league and team owners want basketball's biggest stars on the court when they're healthy, especially during nationally televised games.

What looked to be an intriguing matchup between the Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers on ABC this past Saturday was anything but when LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving all sat on the bench.

On the other hand, as more information about the subject becomes known, resting players makes sense when looking at the bigger picture. For instance, ESPN.com's Tom Haberstroh pointed to a study by the Utah School of Medicine that determined the risk of injury is 3.5 times higher during back-to-back games on the road than during normal circumstances.

Player health has played a key role in each of the last two NBA Finals. The Cavs lost to the Golden State Warriors in 2015 after both Irving and Love got hurt. In 2016, an ankle injury dogged Stephen Curry as the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead.

As part of the new collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and National Basketball Players Association, the preseason will be shorter in an effort to extend the regular season, thus eliminating some back-to-back situations.

Continuing to examine that approach is arguably the best way to remedy what is a tricky situation for all parties involved.