National Basketball Association

The NBA is talking to all 30 teams to stop 'slippage' in league

Published Oct. 11, 2023 8:36 p.m. ET

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Melissa Rohlin

FOX Sports NBA Writer

Heading into this season, the NBA is trying to prevent what they're referring to as "slippage."

Superstars resting. An All-Star game not worth watching. Awards being granted to players who missed over a quarter of the season. Games that feel meaningless in December. 

The league has instituted rules to shore up some of these problems, and executives are currently in the process of speaking to all 30 NBA teams to make sure everyone is on the same page about three aspects in particular: The Player Participation policy, In-Season Tournament and All-Star Game.

The bottom line is clear: The league wants the players to buy-in. 

Regarding the Player Participation Policy, which aims to ensure multiple stars don't miss the same game and stars are available for nationally televised games, among other stipulations, the goal is for the faces of the league to, well, show their faces for fans who are spending their hard-earned money to watch them play. 

"This is not a gun to anyone's head that you have to play all 82 games and drag yourself out there," said Joe Dumars, executive vice president and head of basketball operations for the NBA. "That's not what that means. What it does mean is that it's hard for us as the league office, for fans, media, everybody when you hear that a guy has been scheduled to rest three months from now. What are we doing?"

Dumars said that the league office, the Competition Committee and the NBA Players Association all signed off on the Player Participation Policy, which encourages teams to prioritize the product over their individual interests in this area when a player's health is not in the balance, especially considering recent data they've reviewed has indicated that rest doesn't necessarily reduce injury. 

"We are just re-emphasizing to guys, 'Hey guys, you do realize this is an 82-game league. And if you're healthy and can go, everyone expects you to play,'" Dumars said. "... Really, what we're really talking about is the culture of this league. The culture should be that every player should want to play 82 games. Obviously, everyone is not going to play 82 games. But everyone should want to play 82 games. And that is the culture we are trying to re-establish right now."

As for the in-season tournament, which will begin Nov. 3 and crown a champion in Las Vegas on Dec. 9, the league wants the players to take this seriously, so it will infuse a typically sleepy period of the calendar with excitement and generate additional buzz and revenue. 

Players who win the tournament will receive $500,000 and bragging rights. But is that enough to incentivize some guys who are earning multi-millions?

"The line I keep hearing from players is, 'If you tell me there's a cup to lift at the end of the game, I'm going to fight to lift that cup,' or some version of that," said Evan Wasch, the executive vice president of NBA basketball strategy and analytics. 

With the All-Star Game, the league was simply not happy with what transpired last February in Salt Lake City, Utah, when the competition was lackluster. 

"I think it was the lowest rating that we had in the last 10 years in an NBA All-Star game," Dumars said. "When you have stuff like that, and when you have the reaction that fans had and that people had around the game, and just visually sitting there, it matters because it didn't make the product look good."

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So, the league is imploring players to play harder this time around. To take it more seriously. To make it more fun.

Obviously, no one expects players to give 100 percent for a showcase, which is equally not taken seriously in any equivalent event across all major sports. But the NBA believes there's a middle ground. 

"No one is saying, 'Hey man, the All-Star Game has gotta look like a playoff game," Dumars said. "That would be silly. But there's somewhere between what we saw this year and a playoff game that's a happy medium for all of us."

Dumars also addressed Ja Morant practicing with the Memphis Grizzlies ahead of serving a 25-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the league.

Dumars pointed out that it's typical for a player to practice with his team while serving a suspension, adding that the league believes it's particularly in Morant's best interest.

"I personally think the worst thing you could do is completely ostracize this kid from everything with his team," Dumars said. "So, the 25 games are the 25 games. But I think for this 24-year-old kid to continue to grow, he needs to continue to practice every day with his team, and [attend] team meetings, and all of that stuff I think really helps a young guy's growth. He needs to be in that environment."

As for the league's new rules, spanning from players being required to play in at least 65 regular season games to be eligible for awards to the three talking points the league is currently going over with teams, the hope is to deliver the best possible product possible, with the added incentive of a multi-billion media rights contract looming following the 2024-25 season. 

So, simply put, they want to put an end to the so-called slippage.  

"We're trying to turn it back to what it really should look like," Dumars said. "And not let it slide anymore."

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.

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Melissa Rohlin