The NBA’s new rest policy exception, unveiled ahead of the latest season, has a twofold purpose: to safeguard the longevity of veteran players and to maintain the overall competitive balance of the league. This exceptional policy recognizes the unique demands placed on older athletes and those who have logged an impressive number of minutes on the court.

The criteria for eligibility under this policy are crystal clear: players who are 35 years old or older by the time the season opener arrives, or those who have accumulated a remarkable 34,000 regular-season minutes or have participated in a total of 1,000 combined regular-season and playoff games, will receive prior load management approval from the league.

LeBron James, a basketball legend in his own right, effortlessly satisfies these conditions. At 36 years old and with a career that has seen him contribute extensively to his teams in both the regular season and playoffs, it’s no surprise that he stands as a prime example of a player who deserves special consideration under this new policy.

But LeBron is not alone. He is joined by a select group of seasoned NBA veterans who share similar qualifications. These players include Andre Iguodala, P. J. Tucker, Chris Paul, Taj Gibson, Kyle Lowry, George Hill, Goran Dragic, Garrett Temple, Al Horford, Rudy Gay, Jeff Green, Wesley Matthews, James Johnson, Danny Green, Joe Ingles, Mike Conley, Javale McGee, Stephen Curry, Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, Thaddeus Young, Ish Smith, Patrick Beverley, DeAndre Jordan, Patty Mills, Boban Marjanovic, Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, DeMar DeRozan, James Harden, and Jrue Holiday.

This distinguished group of players, known for their incredible contributions to the sport, will now have the opportunity to receive approval for load management strategies that align with their unique needs and physical conditions. This not only ensures their longevity and health but also allows them to continue delivering extraordinary performances on the court.

The introduction of the NBA’s new rest policy exception demonstrates the league’s commitment to its players’ welfare and the acknowledgment that veteran stars like LeBron James and others have special requirements to prolong their careers effectively. As these seasoned athletes continue to dazzle fans with their skills and leadership, the league stands by them, ensuring they can maintain their high level of play without compromising their health.

In a league where stars are celebrated for their achievements, this new policy paves the way for seasoned players to shine even brighter, cementing their status as enduring legends in the world of basketball.

With the Jazz likely too good to tank out for Victor, would Danny Ainge pull a big swing using all the picks he’s accumulated so far?

The theory goes, Kevin Durant is still unhappy in Brooklyn and will ask for another trade. When that happens only a handful of teams will have enough assets to make it make sense for Brooklyn and Utah is one of those teams. Danny Ainge bows out the Wembanyama sweeps and instead puts together an instant contender with KD.

Here is a Utah Jazz/Brooklyn Nets trade that brings Kevin Durant to the Jazz:

Brooklyn Nets Receive:

G Collin Sexton
G/F Malik Beasley
G/F Talen Horton-Tucker
2023 First-Round Pick (UTA)
2025 First-Round Pick (CLE via UTA)
2026 First Round Pick (MIN or CLE via UTA)
2027 First-Round Pick (UTA)
2028 First-Round Pick (Swap – UTA)
2029 First-Round Pick (UTA)

Utah Jazz Receive:

F Kevin Durant

Sometime soon, Kevin Durant is going to ask again for a trade. He’s going to get traded to one of the teams with the most assets in the NBA, Danny Ainge will package up all the accumulated picks, and the Utah Jazz will trade for Durant #KevinDurant #NBA #NBATwitterLive #utahjazz

— Connor Rock (@connorjamesrock) October 24, 2022

Danny Ainge seeing this Kyrie drama and realizing he can trade all the picks he acquired trying to tank the Jazz for Durant and accidentally create the best team in the NBA pic.twitter.com/Im8hkd2bNU

— california bucks (@Russell_Palmer2) November 4, 2022

That’s probably a good move because any team KD goes to will have to trade 3 good players and like 5 draft picks to get him. I’m not really sure what kind of future that would mean for Kevin say, in Phoenix with no Bridges, no Cam Johnson, no Ayton, and CP3 retiring soon with no draft picks coming soon.

All in all, it was probably a wink wink deal to make Sean Marks pay Kyrie Irving the extension he wants.

Here are the details:

“Steve Nash and I, together with Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, met with Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman in Los Angeles yesterday. We have agreed to move forward with our partnership. We are focusing on basketball, with one collective goal in mind: build a lasting franchise to bring a championship to Brooklyn,” the press release from general manager Sean Marks read.

To calm everyone down, this is not a trade that is very likely. The Blazers have no assets that fairly compensate Brooklyn for a player of KD’s stature and Durant is not a free agent for three more seasons.

Maybe Dame is trying to speak it into existence, but the fact is Portland is among the least desired free agent destinations. If Dame Dolla wants to win a ring he will have to go to a bigger city and team up with other players not the other way around.

Who said a NBA team needs chemistry?

It seems like as long as your top 3 guys like each other there is nothing stopping you from getting the maximum out of the team in year 1.

Here is how the Nets are trying to trade for James Harden to add him to Kyrie and KD:

A source is telling me that the Nets have engaged in talks with the Rockets. James Harden for a variation of: Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert, Taurean Prince, and Jarrett Allen.

Nothing finalized, but Harden to Nets seems like real possibility. If finalized, announced on Nov 22.

— Farbod Esnaashari (@Farbod_E) November 14, 2020

With that said, Hayes recently got a sit down with KD and asked him all the questions we want to know. Why did he go to Brooklyn? Is he mad at the Warriors? For the full answers to those questions and more click here for the full interview.

While reading this story I found a quick quote I wanted to share from KD. Check it out below.

On the injury:

“I heard the Warriors pressured me into getting back. Nobody never said a word to me during rehab as I was coming back. It was only me and [director of sports medicine and performance] Rick [Celebrini] working out every day. Right when the series started, I targeted Game 5. Hell, nah. It just happened. It’s basketball. S— happens. Nobody was responsible for it. It was just the game.

For the full interview and more click here for the full interview.

KD will be sporting a new number to go with his new team.

Kevin Durant will be #7 on the Brooklyn Nets as per this IG post:

View this post on Instagram

@35ventures

A post shared by 35 (@easymoneysniper) on Jul 7, 2019 at 4:00pm PDT

Of course to do this the same year Lebron goes back to #6 and to be 1 number above is clearly a troll. KD is a student of the school of trolling, as is Kyrie Irving. They know exactly what to do to keep the computers putin’.

We see you KD!

Hopefully he’s back soon but doctors on twitter are already diagnosing the situation from afar. Of course they have better eyes than us who don’t see these things everyday so it’s likely the next time we’ll see KD is next year…

(…in Brooklyn.)

Get well soon KD.

Let’s be clear. No one is saying that Kevin Durant isn’t the second best player in the world, but we also aren’t running to congratulate him for joining a 73-9 team that was about 6 minutes away from winning a title without him.

Kevin Durant secured the bag. I get that. He was a free agent and free to play where he wanted. Golden State, Utah, Sacramento, New Orleans, CBA, NBADL, Africa, Thailand, anywhere he wanted to play basketball in 2017 was free game. No one is questioning that.

What Durant did secured his legacy. He saw an opportunity to get a guaranteed ring (barring injury) and took it. While we can complain here in 2017, KD will go down in history with the winners. You have to erase his name off the list of great players who didn’t win rings under Jordan such as Karl Malone and Charles Barkley. KD is a champion and no one can take it away from him.

How Durant got his title was not “honorable” but there are no rules in war.

So who’s to blame for this? How did we get to the era of the Ultimate Warriors?

Easy. Bad team planning. And I have three teams in particular to blame: the Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets.

Let’s go back in time to the 2009 draft. Everyone knew about Stephen Curry. Multiple teams made it known that he was on the radar and you know who one of those teams were? The Washington Wizards. The same Wizards who held the fifth pick in that draft.

The Wizards worked out Stephen and it looked like he was going to be a Wizard and you know what happened? The Wizards traded the pick. For who you ask? Randy Foye and Mike Miller. The Timberwolves would go on to draft PG Johnny Flynn at the fifth spot, Ricky Rubio sixth, and Curry fell seventh to Golden State.

Were Ricky Rubio and Johnny Flynn ever better players than Curry? Nope. And the Wizards knew this, but instead mortgaged the pick for veterans who could help them immediately.

For what it’s worth, the Warriors would draft Ekpe Udoh the next season over Gordon Hayward and Paul George but it didn’t matter because of what would happen the next year…

The Charlotte Bobcats (Hornets) drafted Bismack Biyombo and Kemba Walker over Klay Thompson.

The Bobcats, a team that has had a perpetual hole at the SG position to this current day, passed on a lottery pick that fell right in their lap due to “attitude issues” in college.

This is also the draft where the Wizards selected Jan Vesley sixth overall.

No surprise. Bad teams make bad draft decisions. I won’t even rag on the Wolves for taking Derrick Williams second because at the time he was the best player in the draft (yes over Kyrie Irving who played less than 10 collegiate games.)

The very next draft the Warriors draft Draymond Green with the 35th pick. Charlotte drafted Jeffrey Taylor with the 31st pick and Washington took Tomáš Satoranský with pick number 32.

As you see, if either one of these teams were somewhat competent at the draft process then there is no Warriors core. There is no super team for Kevin Durant to join. Either he goes to Washington to play with Curry or goes to Charlotte to play with Klay and Draymond.

The GMs brought this on themselves. You cannot blame Golden State for mastering the art of evaluating players and picking up where other GMs left off. Much like how you cannot blame the Bulls for selecting Jordan after Sam Bowie.

Bad teams rebuild through the draft. That is why the lottery system exists. But when teams such as the Nets and Wizards exchange their future for immediate gratification in the win column the great GMs and advisors such as Golden State’s Jerry West feast on them.

Who do you think the Nets would rather have right now? 19 year old Markelle Fultz or 41 year old Kevin Garnett? Because that’s essentially the exact trade that occurred.

Stephen Curry or Randy Foye? Again, another trade that really happened.

We can’t blame KD for being an opportunist and creating a super team. It’s time to blame the NBA GMs who let the super teams happen.

Many people want to blame the lack of excitement in the regular season and playoffs due to Durant switching teams but the man himself has other thoughts on the situation.

According to KD you should blame the Nets for trading all their draft picks to Boston:

“Like I’m the reason why (expletive) Orlando couldn’t make the playoffs for five, six years in a row? Am I the reason that Brooklyn gave all their picks to Boston? Like, am I the reason that they’re not that good (laughs). I can’t play for every team, so the truth of the matter is I left one team. It’s one more team that you probably would’ve thought would’ve been a contender. One more team. I couldn’t have made the (entire) East better. I couldn’t have made everybody (else) in the West better.”

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2711962-kevin-durant-says-hes-not-to-blame-for-nbas-parity-concerns

Is he right or wrong?