168 NBA Players Sat Out Friday Night, and the Reason Says Everything About Playoff Prep
The NBA regular season is almost done. It ends Sunday. But apparently, a ton of players already checked out early.
Friday night, 168 NBA players sat out games because of injury or illness. That is a staggering number. And the names missing? They matter. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokić, the last two league MVPs, both sat when their teams faced off. Two of the best players in the world, on the sideline, at the same time. That tells you something about what's happening right now in the league.
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Oklahoma City is the defending champ and they just locked up the top seed in the Western Conference for the second year running. Head coach Mark Daigneault made the call to rest Gilgeous-Alexander and others, and he's not apologizing for it.
"If we didn't clinch the No. 1 overall seed coming into tonight, everybody would be playing," Daigneault told reporters before the game against Denver, per ESPN. "We've earned the right through 80 games to manage their bodies and stuff like that."
Think about that for a second. When you've already wrapped up the top seed, the incentive to risk your stars in games that don't matter is basically zero. The Thunder are looking ahead, not back.
Some Guys Still Played Through It
Not everyone got the luxury of sitting. LeBron James took the floor Friday despite the Lakers dealing with serious injury problems. Victor Wembanyama also played, though for a specific reason: he needed 20 minutes to become eligible for season awards. He admitted he wouldn't have played if he'd already hit that threshold.
Jokić will have to suit up Sunday if the Nuggets need him, but for now, even the reigning back-to-back MVP got a breather when Denver faced Oklahoma City.
Sunday is the last day of the regular season. Don't be shocked if even more stars end up resting before the playoffs kick off and things get real.
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