It’s time for the NBA to put an end to this whole rest-your-starters-in-March debacle, as fans have suffered for long enough.
When the Cavaliers traveled to Staples Center on Saturday night, fans expected to see LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in the game. The average resale ticket price for the game was over $300, and fans aren’t really interested in paying that amount of money to see J.R. Smith, Deron Williams and Richard Jefferson.
In defense of Kevin Love, he’s still coming back from injury. He did play 20 minutes against the Jazz on Thursday night, though, and probably could have spent some time on the court if the Cavs’ coaching staff wanted him to.
But instead, the powers that be elected to rest James, Irving and Love for a nationally-televised game, and announced the decision just hours before tip-off. And neither James nor Irving is hurt, as they’re both scheduled to play against the Lakers on Sunday night.
ABC’s pregame panel certainly wasn’t happy about the Cavs’ decision to rest their stars. Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy called it an “absolute joke” and a “prosecutable offense.”
The folks at ABC aren't too happy about the Cavs sitting LeBron, Kyrie + Love tonight. pic.twitter.com/jeaho7Bjzq
— Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) March 19, 2017
And apparently, the league has taken note of it as well.
Cavs GM David Griffin said he received a call from the NBA league office after it was announced Cleveland was sitting Ky, Kevin and Bron
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
When did the league call? Griff: "Seven minutes after it was announced. Yeah, they were not happy."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
Props to the league for stepping in and threatening action. Sure, the main reason they’re upset is probably because the Cavs pulled this move just before a nationally-televised game, and ratings surely took a big hit when fans found out the big three wasn’t suiting up.
Cavs fans who showed up to Staples Center to watch their team play got shafted by this last-minute move, and the league needs to step in and set a precedent so it doesn’t happen again.
About Matt Birch
Matt manages all editorial operations for The Sports Daily. His work has been featured on MSN, Fox Sports, Yardbarker, SB Nation and Bleacher Report. Matt has also written for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He enjoys eating good food, shooting hoops and making original, compelling stories go viral.
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