NBA Reportedly Expected to Approve Rules to Cut Back on Resting Healthy Players

Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reported Thursday the NBA is expected to approve rules meant to limit teams' ability to rest healthy players during regular-season games.

The rules are expected to be enacted for the 2017-18 season, and there will be repercussions for teams that do not follow them.

Specific regulations and punishments aren't yet clear, but Zillgitt said teams may be dissuaded from resting top players during nationally televised games.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed such situations in April: "When we do have marquee network games, we the league office can do a better job at looking at obviously, the prior night in terms of back-to-back, but also the several days leading up to that game so that players are at peak performance for those games."

Last season, a nationally televised game between the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs made headlines when both teams sat most of their best players.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, meanwhile, rested their "Big Three" in a national game against the Los Angeles Clippers in March.

In an attempt to limit the need for rest, the NBA issued a memo Tuesday stating that back-to-back games and one-game road trips will be lessened during the 2017-18 season, per ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst.