Overview
- Charles Barkley used Inside the NBA on Sunday’s regular‑season finale to call mass resting “disrespectful” to fans and to press Commissioner Adam Silver to step in, tying the trend to the league’s 65‑game eligibility rule.
- The Mirror reported 155 players were listed out with roughly $2.5 billion in salaries on the bench, with 13 teams carrying seven or more absences and 64 players tagged for rest or injury management.
- Other tallies circulated, with AP reporter Tim Reynolds noting 195 players ruled out, while Barkley’s on‑air claim of “170 starters” was corrected as inaccurate.
- Barkley cited Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, LeBron James, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as examples, though reports noted injury reasons for some stars, including Wembanyama’s rib soreness and Jokic’s hyperextended knee.
- He renewed anti‑tanking ideas that would give each non‑playoff team one lottery ball, end pick protections, and block ticket price hikes for sub‑.500 teams, and no policy change has been announced.