NBA Fines Timberwolves $25000 For Resting Player

The NBA, on Thursday, fined the Minnesota Timberwolves $25,000 for not adhering to the league's player resting policy which was put in place in 2017 and clarified in November.

The violation occurred when basketball team rested D'Angelo Russell, deemed to be a healthy player under the policy, during Sunday's game against the Nuggets in Denver, the league said.

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The resting policy restricts teams from sitting healthy players in "high-profile" nationally televised games with Timberwolves game against Nuggets showing on NBA TV. The policy further allows teams to rest healthy players only when they play at home, unless there are unusual circumstances.

The Wolves said in a statement that they accepted the fine but noted: "We are a player-centric organization that's focused on learning and optimizing our players' bodies. As a new player in our program, we chose to rest D'Angelo in order to learn his body better and to optimize his health during a difficult stretch of games and travel."

The league implemented the 'load management' guidelines in 2017 after several instances in which teams rested players that would've resulted in a fine under the rules.

Its history, however, dates to 2012, when Gregg Popovich sent Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, and Danny Green back to San Antonio before the Spurs' last game of a six-game road trip. That decision drew widespread attention and criticism and earned the Spurs a fine of $250,000 because it was a huge matchup with LeBron James and the Miami Heat.