So hear me out, players are going to rest. 82 games of high level ball is going to result in injuries for 90% of the league. It's inevitable.
So why not allow each team to submit a predetermined rest schedule for their players before the season. That way, a fan can check it before buying tickets to make sure they get to see their favourite player.
Example, Lebron will rest every 4th game. So 3 games on, 1 game off. Easy for the league to plan nationally televised games, easier for fans to tune in to what they want to see, etc.
And on the nights when the starts are resting, it would give cheaper tickets to those less likely to be able to afford the NBA experience.
Injuries are a different thing altogether so I didn't include those but I think this is something the players and league coupd get behind without seeing a drop in revenue.
Thoughts?
Sadly the obvious reason is then fans wouldn't buy tickets and revenue drops.
I get it, if you knew Taylor Swift wouldn't be performing and instead she'd have an understudy sing her stuff with her band that night, no one would buy tickets.
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But the NBA does that pretty consistently now (Saying this as a Wolves fan who's been to 3 games so far this year and didn't see a healthy Jimmy Butler or a healthy Zion in two of the 3). Last year I went to 10 games and about half I missed out on the opponents best players (Denver didn't travel their stars, Lilliard sat out, a couple others I don't remember now and of course I'd gotten Nets tickets before they sent away Irving and Durant lol). Wolves won most of them which was cool and their guys aren't resting much outside of injury so that was ok, but still. At least Lebron was back from injury early late in the year.
There's a few things living in Minnesota working against us. Small market team with limited success means the "national broadcast games" where there are more fines don't apply as much (I think we have 5 this year). And it's often a long trip stop in the Midwest so that's a perfect spot to maximize rest.
I'm not sure I can think of a good answer there. Maybe something where if a player rests on a road game, they have to rest the next home game they play as well? It's a bit drastic, but I truly don't know another good answer.