The postseason is just around the corner and teams are starting to pull off a Gregg Popovich Move of resting star players to avoid injuries. It might be beneficial for teams but for fans, it's just a rip off especially when there's a lot of money involved just to see these basketball players play. Recently, there are NBA rumors of the Cleveland Cavaliers being fined for not playing Lebron James in a Wednesday game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
According to ESPN, head coach Tyronn Lue announced that the Cavaliers big three would not play the second game of a back-to-back home and road games with the Grizzlies. Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and Lebron James did not play at the Fedex Forum and the team lost 85-93. The bench players were the ones who filled in for the big 3.
It was a different scenario for Irving and Love since the former was experiencing some leg soreness and the latter had some back spasms. But for James, Lue intentionally sat him out and James agreed to it and said, "I do whatever my coach asks me to do."
It's not the first time coaches have done it because Greg Popovich did it before. The San Antonio Spurs was even fined $250,000 for sitting out Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili against the Miami Heat 3 years ago.
In a report by Cleveland.com, the Cavaliers should be fined for sitting out James since there was no valid reason for him sitting out the Grizzlies game. NBA rumors have it that the Cavaliers are being fined $5 million and it's one of the biggest fines in professional sports history.
There are no confirmations about the fine yet but James' representatives and the Cavaliers front office are looking to petition the fine because it's really a big amount of money. If these NBA rumors are true, it would be a lesson for coaches and players to stop this practice.
